Another Aria
by Alavaria
Summary: All Summaries are on Chapter 1. (Arc 4) The Grail demands its War, the melee evolves into a team battle, four per side. But there is also a pressing need to lay foundations for the building to come.
1. Sword versus Spear (Battle)

All rights of Type-Moon, Nasu et al remain theirs.

* * *

 **Summaries, by arc:**

(Arc 1) Despite not learning magecraft, Emiya Shirou cannot escape his fate in of the Moonlit World. A chance meeting and hospitality drags him into a Grail War with an unusual Servant and unconventional magecraft mentor.

(Arc 2) Separated from his Servant, Shirou has to take hold of his own path in the War, negotiating an alliance with the most unexpected of parties, with equally surprising results. But the War rages without abating.

(Arc 3) As the Emiyas' coalition solidifies, so does their opposition. There is a pressing need to ensure all the "allies" are pushing in the same direction lest they all lose together, but some reasons for concern may originate closer to home than expected.

(Arc 4) The Grail demands its War, the melee evolves into a team battle, four per side. But there is also a pressing need to lay foundations for the building to come.

* * *

 **Fate/Another Aria**

* * *

 **Sword versus Spear**

* * *

The girl sat down on the bench in the middle of Fuyuki's largest park, sighing softly as it took the weight off her feet. Hearing the sound of approaching feet, she quickly removed the light wide-brimmed hat that had been resting on her pale white-pink hair, using it to cover the distinctively European-styled crossguard and hilt of the weapon propped between her knees.

"And what's a little lady like you doing out so late at night?"

This time her refined sigh was definitely in annoyance.

* * *

For Emiya Shirou, it wasn't a particularly late night out, though his intentions were of the "emergency grocery shopping" type as he cut through the park on the way to his destination. However, the sound of several swaggering young men caught his ear, and he of all people wasn't about to let something like that go.

The three males standing around a lone girl on one of the park's scattered benches brought back some memories. Bad ones, of an earlier time before the park was as "developed", such as it was now. However, from the sound of it, they had moved on from crass bullying of children smaller than themselves to ear-burningly bad pick up lines. Shirou didn't hesitate to wade into that mess.

"Hey guys, how's things going?"

"Oi, Emiya-san, please leave us to our fun for once?"

The trio eyed him slowly. Their first encounter had devolved into a messy brawl, which is to say they got Shirou pretty good until Fujimura Taiga appeared and taught them some of the basics of close quarter combat. Her ability with a shinai only came about later, but was even more formidable, as was her family name and reputation of course.

"Sorry," he replied after a moment, "but aren't you a little early for that?"

The leader of the group turned and considered the girl in front of him. Or rather, he ogled her chest area and realized that, indeed, she was not as "developed" as some of the underclassmen he knew. Not that it would really have dissuaded him, but still...

"Aren't you jumping ahead a little? We hadn't even introduced ourselves yet." He decided to play the reasonable card. "You're on another errand, right? We have, uh, prior engagements too, so don't let us keep you."

"Mhm. See you in class tomorrow." They weren't actually in the same class, though they did go to the same school. While his dismissal of them was obvious, it allowed them to save face.

"Yeah," one of the other two finally spoke up helpfully, though a little grudgingly. "We can't hang around talking with you when there's stuff to do."

"Come on," the first said, turning away, pointedly ignoring Emiya and the girl. "We've wasted enough good time here."

Shirou just smiled politely at their retreating backs, before he heard his accidental acquaintance mutter something like "my hero".

"Well," he said, nodding to her and preparing to move on before things got awkward. "Good night to y-"

"Kya~" A sudden gust of wind blew her hat, that had been resting on her lap, away towards a group of trees to the side. Squeaking slightly, she wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. The rather light dress she had on was probably fine in the warm daytime, but not in the middle of the night like at present.

"One moment," Shirou smiled and took off after the stray item.

* * *

Watching as Shirou neared the fallen hat, only for another bit of wind to send it fully into the trees, she stood up, her hands lowering the sword from where she had been hugging the weapon to keep it out of sight. One small motion later, its hilt was in her hand and the scabbard on the ground. She took a few steps forward, raising the weapon into a guard stance as someone landed heavily in front of her, falling from the sky as though it was nothing uncommon.

It only took a moment to take in his navy blue armor with fine silvery etchings, and more importantly the large crimson spear occupying both his hands.

* * *

"Lancer."

She watched him, ready to act but not rushing into the attack. The heroic spirit of the spear considered her for only a moment before replying. "Saber."

"I don't really want to this early, but I suppose you will insist?" Small talk aside, she was waiting for the smallest sign that the red weapon might be headed her way.

"I'm afraid I must. Master's orders, you see." His bloodthirsty smirk made it clear he was not displeased with those orders at all.

She just sighed.

* * *

He felt his smile grow moment by tense moment. Encounter number one: Saber versus Lancer, the greatest matchup among the other knight classes. This was shaping up to be an excellent Grail War.

With a practiced casualness, he lowered the point of his weapon and tapped it against the ground. Of course, this left him open - or so one might think, if they were unaware of the Lancer's literally legendary agility and speed. The swordswoman didn't respond.

"Perhaps you are a lady knight?" The real question in his mind was what kind she might be, as he had seen a few like her. Fairly rare were actual child heroic spirits, though wraiths and the like could look like whatever. Alternatively, she could have been summoned as a younger "earlier" version of the person who entered the Throne of Heroes, or even had a legend revolving primarily around her youth. The origins of Heroic Spirits were always interesting, after fighting them of course. "I am-"

"I'm unable to reciprocate an introduction. Please understand."

Lancer simply nodded his acceptance. Not every duel needed formal introductions beforehand, his own legend involved a ridiculous number of "duels" which didn't. The spear his Teacher had passed to him rose easily in his hands as it was leveled at her chest. "True warriors understand one another best on the battlefield. So, come at me."

She took a small step forward, adjusting her stance to reflect the fact that his attacks were likely to come at her from above. Lancer crouched slightly, lowering himself and his spear towards the ground. She shifted slightly in response. "You first, Lancer."

At this point he was feeling a little high just off the feel of battle swirling around them. "Then!-" The blood-colored point shot forward, the sound as it forced a way through the intervening air announcing the beginning of their fight in earnest.

* * *

After the hat finally flew into a shrub that snagged it out of the air for good, Shirou's chase ended rather anti-climatically. As he made his way back towards the waiting girl, the sound of metal striking metal rang out several times in quick succession, carrying well in the calm night air. It was coming from the direction he had just come from.

His instincts demanded calm, but not inaction. Holding firmly onto his prize, Shirou stepped quietly towards the sound, and instead of leaving the trees' cover, he paused behind one of them, crouching next to a small shrub and carefully peeking around the trunk.

The girl whose hat he was holding was fighting a spear-wielding man in the middle of the park. The two exchanged a brief series of blows before pulling apart, and then the spearman advanced on her again, and was met by her blade again. While he could follow what was going on, barely, he could also tell that neither side was going all out.

This suspicion was confirmed as the man, during one of their brief separations, laughed while spinning his weapon in a showy manner. "Saber, where's the _aggression_? You need to do better than that if you wish to get past my point!"


	2. Dance of Weapons (Battle, pt 2)

**Dance of Weapons**

* * *

Cu Chulainn loved the test of skill, an honest battle. He observed that his first few lazy thrusts were easily deflected by Saber, who wasn't baited into attacking. Perhaps he was being too obvious about holding back his speed, though in his current frame of mind it was more of a warm-up for the battle. Maybe the whole War.

Speeding up his thrusting attacks, Lancer mixed a couple of wider sweeps in. While obviously possessing a wicked point, his weapon's spearhead did possess a measure of cutting ability. Thrust- horizontal sweep- thrust- thrust- vertical slice- thrust- the fight continued as he kept Saber just a little beyond his tip, where he could attack her but not be attacked in turn.

His opponent kept a very tight and efficient defense, constantly deflecting the crimson spear just a little bit to the side, even when he made a more committed lunge at her. Of course with his agility, quickly reversing his steps and drawing his spear back to recover before she could take advantage of the potential opening was par for the course.

She also seemed to prefer parrying closer to the sword's guard, even though it meant allowing the spear just that bit closer to her. On the other hand, he was hoping to catch the end of her blade with one of his sweeps, in order to move it aside and generate an opening.

* * *

As the speeding point crashed towards her, pushed out of the way before it could pierce her arm, only the calm of a battlefield mindset prevented her from gritting her teeth. It would reveal too much, in the middle of such a fight nothing would go unnoticed by either side. Lancer stepped away once it was clear that his point would not reach its target, and she instinctively made to pursue- He pulled the spear closer to himself, and she shifted back to defense at the clear tell of another rapid thrust.

The red weapon swung out, cutting away to one side, and she simply stepped back a bit out of its range. The spearman cut in the opposite direction while advancing in the same tempo, but it was just a little bit too slow compared to earlier sweeps-

Lancer suddenly stopped mid-swing, his point perfectly in line for a thrust at her center of mass, had she not moved to the side in anticipation. He made the attack anyway, as she couldn't fully dodge it, and she parried the somewhat weaker thrust. He inhaled deeply, more in excitement than due to being out of breath, before jumping forward into another determined attack.

While the spear was spun so fast that she couldn't follow it, predicting the path it would take was actually easier than with some of Lancer's more random probing thrusts. Trusting her instincts, she stepped into his attack as it reached her, turning so her body would provide additional momentum to the sword she swung about her head. The motion both deflected Lancer's weapon while also bringing her edge towards his chest.

A momentary lull occurred as Lancer broke off and pulled back, noticing how she had shifted from her intended thrust to end up in a guard position instead. Not surprising, though, since he was the first to attempt a preparatory-swing-into-thrust attack. Both sides moved towards one another in unison, but this time the swordswoman was the one to pull back. Lancer pushed his advantage, but abruptly realized she was using his momentum, quickly reversing her retreat into an attack so his momentum would carry him to far forward- spinning his spear to block her thrust, he stepped back, just as she did when his defensive shift was clear.

* * *

Lancer grinned, already thinking of his next move. Moving his grip towards the end of his spear, crouched slightly. Her eyes showed that she noticed, but even a small miscalculation on her part of the change in height of his attack might be decisive. Like a sprinter, he dashed forward. There was a bit of space between them as he had made sure to pull back more than usual, in order to convert the supposed safety of distance into additional momentum on his first thrust.

She moved to the side, sword swinging to parry. That was fine by him, Lancer flowed forward and past her, turning as he did to convert the last part of his attack into a cut, which she simply stepped away from. Completing his turn, both Lancer's hands and spear were close to his body. He leaped forward on the attack again, sliding one hand upwards towards the middle of his weapon. Rather than a weaker thrust from full range, instead he maintained his shortened grip while closing in.

With that, Cu Chulainn demonstrated the flexibility of the spear forms he had mastered, switching from the longer-range fighter to the one with less reach, but much greater leverage. Saber's defense was thrown off, as she had anticipated another long poke to cover Lancer's recovery, rather than an immediate charge into the next attack.

Lancer's eyes narrowed as the two weapons' tips neared each other. Saber had moved to parry a little too quickly, but with reach on her side, might still be able to attempt a strike at his hand. However, if she went for the straightforward thrust, he could parry very strongly with his short grip and get past her point. And then either continuing forward with his thrust, or perhaps a sudden backswing to the leg with the end of his spear and-

He saw the briefest flash, no something glimmering just at the edge of his vision, immediately putting him on alert. The sword and lance moved towards one another as though in slow-motion. Saber could have been baiting him into a committed attack, but he himself was trying to get her to reveal her Noble Phantasm. Lancer side-stepped without slowing down, and his spearpoint brushed against steel before lightly sliding off.

Spinning his weapon to provide defensive coverage as he glided past Saber, Lancer turned to see though the red blur between the two of them. Now, what sort of special skill or function did Saber have to show him? Cu Chulainn flashed a delighted grin in anticipation. But when he saw it-

"Oi, what sort of Saber uses _that_?"


	3. Wall of Wood (Battle, pt 3)

**Wall of Wood**

* * *

The shimmering object finally resolved itself into solidity before hitting the ground with a solid **thunk**. It was an ordinary mundane spear, wooden shaft and all. Lancer blinked at the sight, perhaps rarer than swords that shot beams.

Body moving by instinct, he thrust experimentally over the spear on the ground, but it lay still as his attack was parried. As Lancer's weapon returned to him, the fallen spear shimmered away into nothing. There was no way to tell what Saber would have done with it had he stayed close-in earlier.

His blood was still up, guiding him into a flurry of quick thrusts, some feints but mostly genuine attacks. Now, Saber seemed even less inclined to meet him directly, constantly backing up rather than go for the parry. Taking or losing ground hardly meant anything with their speed, but each small retreat left Lancer's spear maddeningly close to any contact. It was as though she was trying to-

He quickly reversed his advance as a now-wall of green shimmered briefly, depositing over a dozen more spears into the air. With the tip of his weapon, he caught one mid-fall and flicked it back at Saber, who didn't react as it simply disappeared.

"Did you learn from Teacher too? I'd complain about her teaching a Saber spear techniques that I didn't get, but I guess you qualify for the Lancer class too, am I right? Well my uncle has a massive drill sword that he claims 'counts as a lance'. Come of think of it though, does Teacher throwing copies of her spear mean she can be an Archer? Oh wait, she can't be a Servant, I think."

Not pausing mid-sentence, Cu Chulainn spun his spear about as Saber, like he predicted, brought up more spears and threw them at him.

He received a small shock on realizing that the projectiles did not seem to trigger his Protection from Arrows skill. Some of Saber's spears simply blurred -through- the circle protected by Lancer's red one, but they also passed through him harmlessly. The sound of them hitting the ground behind him meant that...!

Both sides came to the same conclusion, at the same time. Saber's spears, unlike the one's that Lancer's Teacher used, took some time to materialize. And she only just realized it herself. Shouting in excitement, Lancer charged though a new shimmering array of weapons.

His spear slammed into a large round shield and bit deep. Both sides froze, Saber looking at the spear that had nearly effortlessly pierced her large bronze-covered aspis shield. Lancer quickly pulled back, a sudden need to retreat momentarily seizing control as he realized - _something_ \- had happened to his Master. He heard Saber mutter something as hundreds more of her shield flashed into being between the two combatants.

* * *

She could calmly admit to herself that she was in a really bad spot. The shield was only a normal shield, mass produced during the time of Agesipolis III of Sparta. Even if it was one of the heaviest mundane shields, it wouldn't do anything against a weapon on the level of a Noble Phantasm. She peeked around carefully and saw Lancer looking like he'd just seen something horrifying, maddening or both.

Thinking quickly, she muttered the line to activate **_((Thousand Layered Shields))_** on the one she held, filling the air with exactly a thousand "copies" of the frail thing. It was time to run, Lancer was shouting something, probably about to activate his Noble Phantasm. She turned around, without any sense of shame at running away. It was time to lea-

* * *

Though Cu Chulainn could not see though the shield wall in front of him, it hardly mattered if he could. That might be Saber's Noble Phantasm, but probably only a skill, since she was after all a heroic spirit of the **sword**. He didn't know if she had a better ranged attack, like a holy sword's beam, if she would use it while he retreated if she did, and if he could dodge or otherwise Protection from Arrows from it if she did.

He really didn't like the feel of being ripped apart by a magical energy beam.

It only took him a moment to make up his mind. Even though he might need as much magical energy as possible, this use of his Noble Phantasm was quite efficient. And, sword beam or not, leaving a powerful Saber at his back was never a good idea. Sending his bloodlust and mana into the spear, he felt himself growing calm as it practically lit up, whining with the desire to **pierce**.

"Your heart is mine!"

He couldn't see her directly, since she was using the shields as cover, but he could sense her well enough for the weapon's curse to activate. There was no escaping it now.

" _ **Gae Bolg!**_ "

Almost lazily, he pushed the point of his spear upwards toward the sky. Taking on a life of its own, Gae Bolg, the Barbed Spear that Pierces with Death ripped itself free from his hands, soaring up and above the mass of shields before stopping in mid-flight, flipping over to point downwards, and diving.

* * *

"- **_Bolg!_** "

She turned her head to see Lancer's weapon making as though to stab the moon, but paused as it suddenly disobeyed the usual laws of physics to stop and turn about to point at her. She froze, but it wouldn't have helped even if she had the presence of mind to try dodging or taking out another shield.

The blood-red weapon darted towards her. Her red blood soon splattered over the its barbed spearhead.

* * *

Cu Chulainn smiled in slight disappointment as his weapon somersaulted over the shields, returning eagerly to his hand, wet with Saber's heartsblood. Though the shields were still standing solidly, there was no need worry about Saber. The moment he unleashed Gae Bolg via its True Name, her heart being pierced was already inevitable. Even if she had an excellent level of Battle Continuation, it wouldn't allow her to both pursue and overcome him.

He turned to leave.

 _Master, you better not die on me_.

* * *

.

* * *

 **Notes** : _  
And first blood goes to Cu. Gae Bolg is really cool. Since it's apparently a very energy efficient Noble Phantasm, he really should use it more. Compare with say Fate/Grand Order Medea who uses her Rule Breaker like she's going knife yandere on someone. (I love both NP animations by the way)_


	4. Bloody Path

**Bloody Path**

* * *

After seeing the battle unfold between two superhumans, Shirou took a moment to collect himself after the blue-armored spearman left the battlefield. Though the green-dressed swordswoman could hardly be said to have held the field.

Hat in hand, he made his way over to the girl sprawled on the ground where she had fallen after being pierced by that red spear. "Are you alive?" he asked quickly, knowing that the dead were beyond any help.

"I haven't quite died yet." she muttered while pushing herself up and into a sitting position. "You should leave before Lancer returns from whatever that was. He will murder you on sight."

He could tell that her show of strength was just that. Or perhaps more like any living being's struggle to continue living, even as it was on the brink of death. He could empathize all too well with those in such situations. "And what about you?"

"Oh, he'll murder me first," she admitted easily. "I suppose I should do so for secrecy's sake but it isn't my problem. In any case, I can't protect you from him."

"Should I call an ambulance?" He thought quickly at the absurdity of what he had just seen, and her need for secrecy. "Perhaps a place to lie low is more like what you need."

* * *

The girl simply blinked at Shirou as the implied offer sank in. In her current wounded and unanchored state, her body was rapidly burning though her magical energy just in order to sustain her consciousness processes, let alone any real healing. "I live alone, and my place is near by," the boy added, making the offer explicit. "You have nothing to lose, right? Sei-ba was it?"

She made to nod, but paused. He lack of recognition towards the class name confirmed her suspicions. "Boy, you clearly don't know what you're getting into. The Moonlit World is-"

"Magic, right?" he said, lifting her up. She was much smaller than he was, but light even for that. "I myself was saved by a miracle, so I suppose a little faith wouldn't be misplaced. Not that I go the church here though."

"Wait," she muttered, looking about. "My sword." The two of them looked about. Actually, the weapon was in her hand but the scabbard just a little behind them where she had dropped it earlier. Shirou walked over to it, with her in his arms, and stooped over a little so she could reach out and pick it up.

"By the way," Shirou said conversationally, if in a hushed tone, while they left the park, "You're younger than me, so don't call be -boy-. The name is Shirou, Emiya Shirou."

* * *

"After all you've seen, _now_ you start judging by appearances?" Even chuckling wasted precious energy, but she couldn't help the instinctive reaction to. While her unusual savior mentioned miracles, it was a surprise to realize that once she had settled against his chest, the signature of some sort of **actual** healing miracle was embedded within him like a pacemaker or other medical implant.

Maybe due to his general good will, though more likely his intent to aid her, the miracle alleviated the odd curse of Lancer's spear. It had pierced downwards from the shoulder, with the tip just nicking her heart. The greater issue was that she was having a great deal of problem attempting to repair any of the damage caused. Simply closing the entry wound and the small bit of damaged heart tissue took a disproportionate amount of energy.

At some point on the way back to Shirou's home, she lost consciousness.

* * *

Reaching the Emiya estate at a steady pace, Shirou let himself in and carried his new guest to the guest room occasionally used by a certain Taiga that occasionally made excuses to stay over (either for the dinner, the breakfast the next morning, or both - the glutton). The girl's blood got all over him and the futon he laid her down on, but the mess did not disturb him, rather the tickling sensation that she was about to expire did.

Again considering the hospital while looking for a change of clothes for her, he realized that someone was ringing the doorbell. This was a terrible time for Taiga to- wait! Yes, the her Yakuza family might know something, or at least a way to get medical attention without undue attention. The doorbell was rung yet again. How impatient!

Shirou rushed over, hand on the door as the bell sounded a third time before he could open it.

"Tohsaka-san?"

"Emiya-san. Why do you have blood all over you?"

 **Damn it.**

* * *

 **.**

* * *

(Earlier)

They say that curiosity killed the cat, and that cats have nine lives. It's probably why the felines are so curious as a species - they can afford the risks. Well to be a magus is to walk with death, but magi don't get even a second chance.

When she chanced upon several drops of non-human blood, Tohsaka Rin followed the trail over to the Emiya estate. Knowing what she did about the "family" living there, she didn't hesitate to ring the doorbell. If she was lucky, only a brief cleanup job would be necessary tonight.

When Emiya Shirou opened the door, with a great deal more of the same blood on him, her first thought was - this will not be a brief cleanup job.

* * *

Shirou just looked blankly at the Tohsaka who had caught him at a bad time, to say the least. While Seiba had spoken of secrecy, the school idol was also a quick study and trying to fob her off now would probably only lead to greater problems. So he decided on one of the worse course of actions in human history - throwing himself on the good graces of Rin. "There's a wounded girl. Maybe you can help."

She nodded and followed him to the room where his guest was lying unconscious. However, when he opened the door and stepped in, she didn't follow immediately. Shirou turned around and saw her holding out both hands towards him.

Rin pulled her hands back a bit before stretching them out towards him. Without thinking, he copied her gesture.

* * *

Though the last Emiya had a history with the Fujimura group, his well-deserved reputation meant that Rin didn't doubt that he might have brought a wounded person into his home. He probably didn't even know how dangerous such a thing might be... well, let's see who-

Rin's mind froze for a moment as her eyes and other senses fell upon the girl that Emiya had asked her to help. The blood-stained futon, the sword she was clasping to her chest, these anyone could see, but as a magus Rin could also -see- other things. Such as the fact that "Seiba" was a Servant. Which is to say, Rin had probably just walked into the house of a Master with a Saber-class Servant. And was probably moments away from a very quick death.

When Shirou stopped partway to the futon, she did the only thing that came to mind. She held her hands out, twice, and he mimicked her, allowing her to see three sword-shaped icons on one of his hands. Command Seals.

"I... know someone who can help," she managed, lowering her voice conspiratorially. "You probably want this on the down-low, right?"

"Uh, yeah," he replied, with an honest look of relief on his face. "She didn't want the hospital and I have no idea what else to do."

"Leave it to me." With that, Tohsaka Rin rushed out as though her life depended on it. As far as she knew, it did.

* * *

Shirou's first thought was not about if he could trust Tohsaka, but rather guilt over getting her involved in he himself did not know what. While the girl wasn't known for offering to help often, when she did, the follow through was always excellent. He could respect that sort of work ethic.

The sound of rustling cloth demanded his attention more urgently though. "Seiba, are you alright? ... You look even worse."


	5. Lance in the Dark

**Lance in the Dark**

* * *

Kotomine Kirei looked over his new Servant, who glowered back at him. Yes, Lancer had some right to be resentful. Kirei thought that he might be developing a fetish for stealing others' Servants.

"You can't have killed Saber," he interrupted Lancer's report, "because according to the Grail, Saber has not been summoned yet."

"Figures, something seemed off. So, Archer then?"

Kirei briefly reviewed what he knew as Overseer thus far. It was information that could be the decisive edge he needed, but nevertheless more sparse than he had imagined. "No, you're the only Knight-class so far. The only possibilities are Caster, Rider or Berserker."

Caster was not responding to the Grail in the usual way, which was probably not unexpected. Rider was also turning up some sort of anomaly, and the Grail reported that a Master had already been killed. Not Lancer's previous Master, she was still alive - Kirei smiled thinly at the thought.

"Can't be Berserker, she didn't feel like it. Best guess is Rider then. Too bad I didn't get to see her Noble Phantasm." Despite the sudden change in circumstances, Lancer seemed to cheer up a bit when thinking of his earlier battle, before his mood fell back again.

"It hardly matters, does it?" Kirei couldn't help but needle the Servant. To him, a kill was a kill, and Gae Bolg's powerful effect, combined with how usable it was, could be most useful in direct applications. His black heart beat a little bit more strongly in agreement. "Anyway, I don't intend to constrain you. Try not to be seen unless you intend to kill. Of course when you do, feel free to unleash that spear. I can afford the prana at the moment."

He couldn't help but laugh as Lancer's expression showed he wasn't sure to be happy or not about the orders. Waving the Servant out of the room, Kirei turned to the phone sitting on the table next to him.

The early kill was a perfect excuse to try and stir things up. Also, he could bypass the usual need to "register" War participants. The less reason that any Master had to stop by his church, the better. That way, Kirei's own Servants were less likely to arouse suspicions, housed as they were in the supposedly neutral area.

He was pretty sure of how to reach at least a few of the Masters, even if he didn't know who exactly they were. The Einzbern, Matou and Tohsaka families were sure to be taking part. Smiling again at the thought of the young Tohsaka he was about to call, he wondered if it might be possible to get her father's Azoth Dagger from her somehow. The thought of using it on her as well as so tempting, it was a pity that he handed it over before it occurred to him.

"Ah Rin, the Grail has decided to accelerate the schedule. Have you summoned your Servant yet?"


	6. Nowhere to Go

**Nowhere to Go**

* * *

(Back in the Emiya estate, guest room)

Watching Seiba sit up and look around the room and at him in confusion brought back old memories. Well as old as any memories he actually still had, anyway. That expression of _there's no way I should be alive_ , he wondered if that's how he looked upon waking up in a hospital bed after the fire. Since only Emiya Kiritsugu had been there to witness it, and he only saw the man a couple of times before the latter's death, there was no way to be sure. His first trip once out of hospital was his now-father's funeral. It was ironic, he recieved the Emiya's name before even knowing Kiritsugu's.

If only he had known. The fact that Shirou did not remember his own family, even its name - was like a revelation to Kiritsugu, a man for whom his family's name would soon be lost along with his dwindling life. For one who aimed to save others, the loss of the one before him was like a twisted sign. With no other choice, he entrusted the Emiya family name and fortune, such as it was, to the boy without either.

* * *

"Saber, how do you feel?"

"Don't call me that, the name's Sasaku," she muttered in wonder. She honestly hadn't expected to regain consciousness, having estimated that using the energy required to heal herself would leave precious little to resist death by Gaia's corrective pressure. However, in the intervening time, she learned or rather -recalled- something important. Gae Bolg had passively forced a curse upon the flesh that it tore through, specifically one that prevented healing. Even though she could theoretically heal in opposition to this, the cost was as mentioned prohibitive.

The fact that it was a continuing curse, one linked to the continued existence of the spear, meant there was another way to tackle the problem. Frowning at the fact that she had overlooked such a detail, Sasaku activated **((Higher Law))** to purge the curse from the wound. The resulting massive expenditure of energy that this took nearly floored her. Actually, she _did_ drop to the floor before Shirou was able to catch her.

A critical mistake. The curse from a source as powerful as a Noble Phantasm, transferred via direct physical contact, wouldn't be removed as trivially as a simple hex or poison. As Shirou gently shook her back to consciousness, she noted that she was now less than an hour from death. Probably mere minutes.

* * *

"Stay with me, Sasaku?" he asked as he saw the light return, if dimly, to her eyes.

"Yeah... it doesn't matter," she replied softly after a moment. "Sorry for the trouble."

"You can't just give up like that. I'm here for you," he declared earnestly while settling her back onto the bloody futon. He couldn't see anything physically wrong with her, but of course there was always the possibility of internal damage.

"It's basically over for me. I don't have anywhere to go," she stated without any anger, bitterness, or sadness while explaining her predicament as directly as she could. "The world is about to crush me into nothing."

Those lines stirred something in Shirou's chest. He might have mistaken it for an emotional response, but this was actually caused by Avalon trying to extend its healing effect in accordance with his desire to help someone else. However, he did know one thing about not having a place in the world.

"You can stay here as long as you need." Yes, while the human desire to live was as powerful, it was practically miraculous at times, conversely there was nothing to be done if the girl herself had decided to passively accept. He could practically see the signs of a person preparing for their conclusion, having been there before. He grasped her small hand in both of his. "I don't mind the trouble. Tell me what I can do."

Opening her mouth to deny him, her free hand moved to rest on top of his. She stopped. "You're a Master?"

* * *

"What's that?"

Sasaku took a second look at the Command Spells on Shirou's hand, just to be sure. This changed everything, but she had to be quick. "How much do you know about the Holy Grail War?"

The boy only blinked at her, causing the Servant to wonder what the Grail system was up to if someone who didn't even know about the ritual could be brought into it. "The quick version then. Chosen magi, Masters, summon familiars, Servants, and fight for the Holy Grail. It grants wishes to the winning pair."

"That sounds straightforward," he said after a moment. "I assume that means you're a Servant. Ah, so by nowhere to go, you need a Master to form a pair with?"

"Yes." His clearheadedness was quite encouraging, though perhaps simply because he didn't know what the War entailed. Well, few did anyway. She wasn't taking advantage of his ignorance, since the Grail had already given him the Command Seals, which made him a target. "Will you accept my service as your Servant? I will do all in my power to achieve your wish."

Shirou paused before replying. "I will. But I don't know magic, so..."

"Magecraft," she corrected him. "I can take care of establishing the contract. Just a moment, repeat after me the following:"

* * *

(A few minutes later)

After the brief ritual (Sasaku said the Grail handled most of the heavy lifting, which made sense), Shirou looked over his new Servant who was once again slumped on the futon. She had warned him that, due to having to supply the mana for the ritual since he couldn't, this was likely to occur. At that moment, she was to him, _someone only I can save_ , just like he was to Kiritsugu. Yes, Emiya Shirou was looking for the one person who only he could save.

As Sasaku had asked him to stay, expecting to recover before too long, he simply watched over her quietly. The color seemed to have returned somewhat to her complexion, but more importantly, as her eyes opened, he could see the power of a will to live shining in them.

"Sasaku, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly **is** your wish?"

"I'm kind of a foreigner here," she explained after thinking about his question. "For me to return to my _home_ , I would need something on par with the Grail."

"You must have come quite a distance, then." She nodded.

"What about you then, Emiya? You must have quite a powerful wish if the Grail chose you, despite not knowing of magecraft."

"Honestly, I wanted to _save the person in front of me_." His quick and honest reply made her frown. It actually did fit, ironically. Him becoming a Master and forging a contract did allow her continued survival. "Speaking of which, as a Master, I should be able to do something special right? It wouldn't be a partnership if you did everything."

"You spoke of a miracle earlier. Actually, if you would be willing to lend me your power for, say, tonight..."

* * *

.

* * *

 **Notes:**  
 _ **((Higher Law))** is like a flexible self-debuff cleanse skill, that acts on "things affecting me that are undesired". The cost rises with the strength of whatever "debuff" is being removed. The effect is, as we saw, instantaneous which also means no self-limiter to prevent one from killing themselves trying to purge something that they are not able to - since there's no time to react._


	7. Friends Like These

**Friends Like These**

* * *

Upon reaching the Tohsaka estate, the family's last member rushed to her Workshop and began double-checking her stocks of prana-charged jewels. For her, rubies resonated the best, and a few had been scheduled for use as an additional _kick_ in the summoning ritual. Rin quickly replaced them with some better ones - she had calculated the best time for the summoning, and thus originally planned to carry out the ritual several days from now. Circumstances meant that matching the hourly time would have to do, so the difference would have to be made up with via gems.

As Rin brought the last additions to the adjoining room with the summoning circle, the phone out in the hallway rang, making her jump. She quickly made her way to it and answered. "Tohsaka house."

It was Kirei, the person most likely to be calling in the first place, but also the last person she wanted to converse with at the moment. "Ah Rin, the Grail has decided to accelerate the schedule. Have you summoned your Servant yet?"

"I'll be over to register soon enough," she replied crisply, trying to avoid giving him the pleasure of imagining her squirming at the thought of being crushed by a Saber. Not that he should know about that, even as Overseer.

"About that," Kirei simply continued in his annoyingly flat tone, which sounded even worse over a phone-line. "I'm suspending the need for a formal registration. The Grail is able to control the War fully in any case."

"What, why is that? Did something happen?"

"I've been reliably informed that a Master and Servant have already been killed. As you might imagine, it wouldn't be _fair_ if people died just outside my doors."

Rin shivered a bit at this revelation. _I don't want to be the next one killed._ "Which class?"

"Rider."

 _Saber must have done it, no wonder she was wounded_. Rin immediately upgraded her estimation of Emiya. Also, the need to summon her Servant without delay. "Got it." She hung up before Kirei could say anything further. There was some time before the ideal hour.

 _Hopefully I can get one of the other two Knight classes, otherwise Emiya's Saber will flatten me._

* * *

Smirking, Kirei didn't spare Rin another thought as he dialed the number for the Matou's house.

"Hello? Ah Sakura-san right? Please put your grandfather on the line for me. Tell him the priest will be brief."

* * *

 _Upon recieving Rin's offering of mana, the Grail began preparing a Servant container for the Heroic Spirit... Alaya for some reason decided not to allow it to utilize a copy of the Counter Guardian it had picked. Discarding that option, the Grail simply began checking other potential candidates. A large number were too 'close' or already had their classes represented. Finally, it settled on another Archer, though perhaps through some sort of spite, picked one much like its original choice that it could copy without needing permission_.

Back in the Tohsaka mansion, summoning room, Rin stared blankly at the Servant that had appeared, after an odd delay, in front of her. While she was of course glad that the summoning hadn't failed, her red-and-black Archer Servant was **even smaller** than Emiya's Saber. _I'm screwed._

Archer looked at her with cheerful recognition, though Rin had certainly never met her before. "I guess I owe you for a lot of things. It'd be rude to just say goodbye, so I'll _pay you back_."

Rin blinked at the sudden bite at the end before Archer continued speaking. For her own satisfaction, doubtless. "Yep, I'm sure you'll find me useful. After all, aren't big sisters always better?"

"You're smaller than me."

"I can stomp on you if you want?"

"No, wait. About that. We're in a bit of a fix, so while it's sudden, we need to get moving. Like now."

"A fight already? What's all this about?"

Rin was halfway down the hallway before she finally replied with a resigned sigh. "We're going to beg for our lives. I'll explain along the way."

* * *

" _... so that's pretty much the situation._ "

Hair whipping in the wind, Rin was glad that Masters could speak telepathically with their Servants. They were making good speed, and though it was rather awkward to be carried by someone half your size, she ignored it studiously.

" _I see. Oni-..oh, is this the place?_ "

" _That's right. How did you know where Emiya lived?_ "

" _Basic geographical knowledge comes with being an Archer-class, Master._ "

" _O-Of course, I knew that. The Grail can be rather inconsistent, though._ " Archer just nodded her agreement.

" _Wait, don't just jump down in front of his door, let's stop a block or two away and walk in so he won't panic and attack or something._ "

" _Well thought,_ " Archer didn't miss how Rin's first priority on getting back on her own two feet was to check her clothes and hair, and snickered. The magus didn't notice though, probably because she wasn't looking out for it, or was distracted by the small task.

" _Master, I can't do anything about the Boundary Fields. Though I have some Magic Resistance, it won't extend to you._ "

" _Oh, Emiya-san isn't... wait I guess he must be a magus. Well in any case he shouldn't be trained enough to stand against me and my jewels, but obviously you'll have to take care of Saber if it comes down to combat._ "

During her first visit earlier in the night, Rin had assumed that any defenses would have been old ones from the time Emiya Kiritsugu was in residence there. Pausing near the door, she noticed that the estate did not have the usual mundane-repelling field up. It felt oddly threatening, as though the house's new owner knew it might tip off someone... like a clueless magus who blundered in.

She definitely wasn't hesitating _right on his doorstep_. Rin firmly pressed the doorbell, though unlike before she only did so once. Footsteps, unmasked by a sound-proofing field, could be heard as someone, presumably Emiya, approached the door. Rin hurriedly stepped away somewhat from the door, as Archer took her place just in case.

The door opened. "Tohsaka-s... huh?" Emiya paused and took a moment to notice who was standing behind his unexpected guest. "Is she with you?" he asked delicately.

"Yes, can we come in?" she replied quickly.

As Rin closed the door behind her, Shirou was already making his way to the kitchen, his automatic reaction to guests being to prepare some tea for them. However, as Rin and her Servant made to follow him, this plan was interrupted by Sasaku jumping around the corner, between Shirou and the other two. With her sword in hand.

Hearing Rin's gasp, Shirou turned around just in time to see two shortswords flash into being in the shortest girl's hands as she took a studied stance.

"Whoa, whoa, Sasaku, don't! That's Tohsaka, she went to get help."

* * *

(Sasaku)

This was very bad. Judging from how the enemy Servant immediately went for swords, she was probably the War's actual Saber. Unlike Cu Chulainn earlier, this one was all seriousness. She chose her next, frustrated, words carefully, realizing she hadn't taught Shirou how to speak telepathically with her.

"You didn't mention she was a magus, or a Master."

"I didn't know."

"I'm right here," Tohsaka said, annoyance clear in her voice. "Archer, stand down. We're not here to fight."

Sasaku waited for just a moment before sheathing her weapon. It was unfortunate, but as it was part of a "set" with the dress she had on, it wasn't possible to dismiss one without also dismissing the other.

* * *

(Rin)

Even standing behind her Servant as she was, Rin took a step back when a rather bloodied Saber appeared with a drawn weapon. The air turned heavy, though no one else seemed to have difficulty breathing but her. Actually, did Servants need to breathe, they didn't need to eat or sleep either?

"Archer, stand down. We're not here to fight."

She could have given the order telepathically but that would defeat the point of trying to de-escalate the situation. Wounded or not, a Saber would have quite the advantage in such close and enclosed quarters.

Shrugging, Archer dematerialized her weapons, though for Servants such things were only a thought away. Still, Rin felt it easier to breathe when Saber Sasaku, followed suit.

"Emiya, your Servant looks terrible." Shirou took a look before pushing Sasaku down the side corridor, leaving Rin and Archer to themselves for the moment. The pair quickly moved to the dining table and sat down with outward calm.

" _Archer, this is awfully late for it, but I haven't asked your True Name yet._ "

" _I was wondering when you would get around to that,_ " Archer was practically laughing, even telephatically. " _It's complicated, but please call me Kuro_."


	8. Friendly Chat

**Friendly Chat**

* * *

A note: " _Italic talking is for mental communications._ "

* * *

Sasaku watched as Shirou looked though a wardrobe of clothes that he clearly was unfamiliar with. After a while of this, she pushed him to the side in order to look for herself.

"Whose clothes are these?" Although Shirou had said he lived alone, the collection was somewhat more than what a guest might bring. They were all too large for her, so she just settled for a dress that she thought would look presentable, even if loose. She had already removed the dried blood on her earlier, since it did after all come from her and was thus under her control, this was no issue - she also didn't want to waste the energy in it.

"I suppose you could say they're my mother's," he replied after thinking. "Though by the time I met my father, he was already a widower."

"I see." She waved the dress about to examine it before storing it away in a corner of her **((Realm's Armory))**. Seconds after that, she replaced what she had on with it.

"Emiya," the boy was already on his way out of the door. "Before we talk to your _friend_ let me show you a trick magi can use to communicate."

"I'm all ears," he said, causing her to laugh at the innocent pun.

* * *

(Rin)

"Well, I prefer a polearm actually, but it seems Lancer must have been summoned before me. Luck of the draw, I guess."

Rin and Kuro turned their heads as one towards the sound of the approaching pair's conversation. So Lancer was already in play, finding out their identity would be valuable. Yet another thing to negotiate for.

" _Let me do the speaking, it's best to avoid giving away anything useful unless we get something in return._ " Kuro simply nodded.

Shirou reached the table first and pulled out a chair for Sasaku. As the latter sat down, Rin noticed with some relief that she wasn't carrying her sword or wearing her swordbelt for that matter. Though her new clothes didn't fit her too well... _why does Emiya have dresses anyway?_

Rather than joining the trio, Shirou made for the kitchen, not having forgotten his earlier intention to prepare tea. Amusingly enough, Sasaku immediately got up to help him.

"Sasaku, you're a guest, so sit down with the other two."

"No, I'm also literally a Servant, so let me handle things like this."

Rin and Kuro shared a glance without any need for mental communication to confirm one another's thoughts on the situation. Kuro laughed. "Are you good at cooking?"

"Yeah." "..Yes." Both of their hosts replied in about the same instant, causing the Archer to laugh again. "Oh, I too have some confidence in my skills. Perhaps one day we can compare notes."

"Enough." Rin was rather exasperated upon recalling her earlier lack of composure. "Emiya, the night is passing and we need to talk before it gets too bright out."

"Sure, sure." He brought the teapot and four cups, while Sasaku handled a tray with some snacks on it. Rin took a cup before realizing what she was doing. " _Hey Kuro, can you take a sip first?_ "

" _He isn't the kind of person who would do that,_ " the Servant replied, though she complied easily. " _All good. Unless you want to swap with me to be extra sure..._ " Rin quickly drank from her own cup to suppress her desire to scold Kuro for being so laid-back in enemy territory.

"So Emiya-san, Saber," she said formally after putting the cup back down. "I think both sides could benefit from an alliance. How about we start by trading some information? It seems you might use some about the War, for starters."

Shirou hesitated after this opening salvo, before cautiously answering with "Well, Sasaku already filled me in somewhat."

"Ah, but I take it you didn't get a call from Kirei yet, as he wouldn't know you are a Master." Time to see what she might be able to get out of him, it shouldn't be too hard...

* * *

(Shirou)

The conversation between the two magi was an odd one. Rin was clearly taking the time to analyze each thing he said, while he himself had to wait for Sasaku to prompt him telepathically. They had earlier decided to simply play out what Sasaku guessed might be Rin's assumptions. One part was openly discussing trivial things while actually passing serious information mentally.

"Sasaku reported to me that she encountered Lancer, but he retreated. Depending on the timing, it could be that he actually met Rider and killed them. Or maybe it was the other way around."

Rin seemed to consider the possibility. "Did you figure out who is Lancer is? He must be quite capable." _To wound your Saber_ she must be thinking.

" _Ask her for something in return._ " "Yes, we have a good idea, but..."

Rin simply nodded, understanding immediately. She raised a hand and waved it at her Servant. "A name for a name, huh? Sure. Kuro, introduce yourself."

"Uh Master, you just did it for me. Servant Archer, Kuro." She looked at her counterpart across the table. "I can tell you that there's a reason **Kuro** doesn't show up in the Throne of Heroes' record, but I'm actually wondering why **Sasaku** doesn't show up either." The two Servants stared at one another for several seconds.

" _Is Sasaku your True Name?_ " Shirou suspected that Kuro wasn't her True Name either, but given his carelessness in using Sasaku's, it might have been for the better if it too was a fake. She didn't seem worried about it being known though.

" _No. Actually, I **suspect** the Grail doesn't have any True Name under my entry, and I'm very sure I wouldn't have a record in the Throne... long story. But I can just give a safe explanation for them._" Sasaku shrugged and made a show of turning to Shirou. "Master?"

" _I'll just follow your lead then._ " Outwardly he only copied Rin with, "An explanation for an explanation? Go ahead."

"Right. I'm essentially what the Grail would refer to as a wraith, so I don't have a legend that's _mine_. Ok, your turn."

Kuro simply nodded. "That's something like my own guess for myself. I have no real memory of coming here, or agreeing to be summoned. I don't remember dying either. Actually my memory is just full of holes so all of that doesn't count for much I guess."

"That sounds like your summoning didn't process fully." Rin twitched in her chair at the remark before snapping, "That is totally not the case!" Kuro just grinned. At least one of the pair was taking their situation well.

Sasaku just continued her line of thought, "Is that why you look like that? Well I'm in the same boat but-"

"No, I'm actually about as old as I look, but I'm borrowing the power of an actual Heroic Spirit. Same for you?"

"That's about right," Sasaku replied lamely.

" _The first part or second?_ " Shirou asked. " _The second. Actually, wait. Damn. Might be both._ "

"Wait a moment," Rin suddenly jumped back into the conversation. "Does that mean you _can't_ return to the Throne?" Both Servants immediately froze. " _Uh Sasaku?_ "

" _She's right. I already told you I had nowhere to go though._ " Shirou blinked, not expecting such a nonchalant reply. Rin had been watching Sasaku's response and missed Shirou's.\\\

Shirou in turn was actually watching Rin since she spoke last and he avoided looking at Sasaku when they were talking mentally. The other magus had reacted with a brief moment of shock, which meant she had probably asked and been answered just like he had.

Shirou wondered if the alliance was about to break up, and bloodily at that. _Neither of our Servants can actually get out of this alive without winning._

Rin was having similarly gloomy thoughts, though Shirou couldn't have known that they took a different path. _Even if I might be able to outsmart Emiya, Sasaku will probably stab me in the back regardless of what he thinks._

"About Lancer," Sasaku spoke up suddenly, as though remembering the first topic of discussion. "I'm pretty sure he's Cu Chulainn." This brought on a somewhat different silence as Rin and Kuro tried to remember who that was.

"Isn't his Noble Phantasm a guaranteed kill type?" Kuro asked finally.

" _Tell them it's Gae Bolg, so yes._ "

"It's Gae Bolg, so yes." Shirou said it casually, mostly because he didn't know what it all meant. Rin though took his tone quite differently.

"I see," Kuro commented, leaning back in her chair. "To be so sure of what it is, then... I guess you must be quite lucky to survive it being used on you."

"I wouldn't say lucky, it hurt a lot."" Sasaku chucked darkly. "

" _What does Gae Bolg do?_ " " _Forces the effect of **-the target's heart will be pierced-** on you._"

Shirou felt breathless for a moment. " _You... what?_ "

"We should try to stick together. Night times at minimum." Rin added firmly after the pause had dragged on for a bit. "If either of us encounters Lancer alone, he'll probably turn them into a free kill."

"While I wouldn't bet my life on it, he doesn't seem the sort. Otherwise he would have just used it a second time to finish me off, rather than just run off. Honestly, I felt like it was a distraction to cover a retreat. Not that it wasn't deadly."

"Could have been an order from his Master. Ok, we don't know exactly when Rider died, but this information suggests that Lancer's Master called him back to deal with Rider. Added to which if his Master has any sense he'll think to order Lancer to use Gae Bolg from the start, and repeatedly, especially when he realizes you survived it once."

"That's true," Sasaku conceded. "Like I said, wouldn't bet my life on it."

* * *

At that moment, the front door was unlocked from outside. Kuro immediately disappeared, but obviously Rin could not.

Sasaku was on her guard against the other Servant, and since Shirou didn't seem alarmed, she did not react in time to prevent the suddenly appearing Fujimura Taiga from seeing her at the table.

"Shirou, what's going on here?"


	9. Tiger

**Tiger**

* * *

(Shirou)

" _Shirou, who is she?_ " Sasaku asked quickly while standing up.

" _Fujimura Taiga, my legal guardian. Friend of my father's. She teaches at our school, good at kendo,_ " he replied automatically in the time it took for her to clear her chair and turn towards Taiga. Huh, now that he was getting the hang of this, wasn't telepathic communication really useful?

"Fujimura-sensei, it's good to finally meet you," Sasaku said enthusiastically while making her way towards Taiga and bowing in what she thought was a formal manner. "Emiya Sasaku. Can I offer you some tea?"

"Oh sure," Taiga replied, caught up in Sasaku's flow and seating herself at a chair that Shirou dragged to the table for her. "I thought Shirou was the only Emiya - I did properly look for his relatives, you know!" she quickly added, doubtless in order to preserve her reputation as a responsible guardian. _Sorry Taiga, but it's pretty much shot with anyone who actually knows you_. Thankfully Shirou had been quite capable of handling his effective-independence.

Sasaku simply nodded and pushed some of the snacks towards Taiga while drinking her tea. "You know that Shirou-nii was adopted, I assume?"

"Yeah..." Taiga subsided a bit upon remembering Kiritsugu's passing. Her Grandfather had also liked the reserved man, though as far as she knew he was all business around the Yakuza boss. Or any adult, for that matter. "This was ten years ago though."

"I'm Father's, uh, Kuritsugu's daughter," Sasaku continued, faking the slip rather convincingly. "Mother never remarried after their separation. She didn't change my name either though."

"I see," Taiga said sympathetically, "It must have been hard growing up without a father." Shirou and Rin both had differing expressions of _how tactless_.

"Mother just passed away," was the sad reply. "And I then find out after searching that my father has already passed away ten years ago." She sighed before adding, "Shirou-nii is the only one who can actually carry on the Emiya name, so you weren't wrong earlier."

"I would never have thought of you that way!" Shirou suddenly interjected. "I didn't know- Father never had a chance to tell me. Taiga-nee and I would have looked if we knew!"

"Sorry I got distracted. Is Tohsaka-chan here because of this?"

"Yeah," Rin yawned slightly. The clocks indicated it was nearing 6am which meant for her meant a harrowing night was followed by a day with no sleep. "Emiya-san asked me to help out."

"You know her?" Taiga asked in confusion. "Er," Rin paused for the briefest of moments, before pointing at Shirou. "Emiya-kun, that is. Since we're classmates." She glanced over at Sasaku who was simply idly sipping tea as though the story they were weaving it didn't concern her. "I guess I'll have to call her Emiya-chan when they're both around."

Taiga took a moment to process everything. "Wait, if you don't have any parents and came here, then?!"

Sasaku caught on quickly, probably because she had been setting things up to that conclusion. "I don't want to be mean about it, but yes, I did think Father wouldn't have turned me away. Though apparently Shirou-nii just has everything?" She hesitated for a moment before continuing with, "We need to discuss this at some point, Fujimura."

* * *

(Taiga)

Taiga sweated a little, trying to remember the documents she had seen a decade ago. Shirou would not appreciate suddenly being kicked out of his childhood home if another heir arrived. "Ah, Emiya-san, no Sasaku. I don't keep all the papers with me, so it will take a while before we can look over them. Also a lawyer..."

"Don't worry," Shirou interrupted, smiling gently. "You don't have to fight to stay in Father's place. You've just been away from home for a while, is all."

 _Good thinking Shirou!_ Taiga quickly followed up on the opening. "That's right, haste makes waste and all that. Rely on me to arrange everything for you kids, alright?"

Sasaku nodded and looked at Rin. "Sorry my brother called you over so early. Cheap flights are always at the worst times."

"I understand somewhat, but seriously. We have **school** and you should be resting after the journey. We can do this later." Rin glared at Shirou who shrugged when she added, "You owe me two now."

"Tohsaka-chan, thanks a lot for helping receive Sasaku. You're always on top of things." Rin puffed up a bit at the praise, though she still looked tired. "I'm going back. You better not be late for school," she said to the earliest student in the school while on her way out.

Taiga turned to Shirou once the front door had closed behind the other student. Sasaku was in the middle of washing up after the unexpected teatime. "Shirou, we need to talk." Hopefully the girl didn't notice her nervousness.

* * *

(Shirou)

"You can leave that to me," Shirou told Sasaku while Taiga was pulling him off to the side. She nodded, but didn't stop what she was doing.

"Shirou, we have a problem~" Taiga practically whined once they were out of Sasaku's hearing, or at least what she thought would be. "I'm not good at dealing with these foreign types, but if she's already thinking about papers we really can't do anything about it."

Shirou tried to think about what he might do in such a situation. "Do you remember what the will said?"

"That's the problem," she replied with a frown. "It isn't like he edited it after adopting you, so I'm not sure. If it's as generic as 'my child' you might be fine, but if she's actually named we're in trouble since we couldn't find her earlier. It's a **big** deal!"

"I don't think really think she'd do something like that," he said as reassuringly as he could. Which, given he knew exactly what the true situation was, was a lot.

"Eh, Shirou is so naive when it comes to girls..." Taiga pouted as if she was as old as the girl they were discussing. "Just because she's younger than you, and addresses you as an older brother doesn't mean she won't take it all if she can. I hear they're quite ruthless out in the west."

Shirou only shrugged. "Look, just leave it to me to sweet-talk her. Find the papers and let me know what's on them so we can think about how to deal with it, ok?"

"I guess I underestimated you," she muttered conspiratorially. "It's a good idea to set it up so you're inviting her in, while you can. Makes it harder for her to not reciprocate, if your positions are switched. But try to get at least a promise out of her."

He simply nodded.

* * *

A little after that...

(Sakura)

The adopted Matou looked out of her window as the sensation of a Servant approaching caught her attention. It was the same one that had appeared earlier that night, which meant that Tohsaka had been busy putting her Servant to work already. Rider too had been busy the last few nights with the War, not that it mattered to her... A sound from behind the girl made her turn around before Rin and Kuro came into view.

"What is it, Sakura? It's too early, leave me alone," complained Shinji, looking at her with bleary eyes. He had seen a few late nights too, and hadn't improved any for it. She bit back a pointless retort _then you should have returned to your own bed_ and kept quiet until he returned to his sleep.

* * *

.

* * *

 _Notes:_  
 _Roughly speaking, this is the end of day 1 (for convenience, take each day as starting at sunrise, as events at night will frequently go past midnight). Thus the next bit where there's some stuff occurring in school is day 2, and the night following is also day 2, and so on._


	10. Everyday Schoolday

**Everyday Schoolday**

* * *

(Rin)

"You're early today Tohsaka-chan," one of her ' _friends_ ' commented idly on meeting her on the way to their classroom.

"I was up and didn't feel like lazing around," she replied rather curtly. Though the other girl already knew about her _not-a-morning-person-ness_ and wasn't put off at all. "You aren't standing around checking when people come to school, I hope."

"Well, you're always on time," her companion said with what she probably thought was a flattering tone. "Surprisingly, Emiya-san wasn't anywhere near the earliest today, as I actually met him on the way in."

"You don't say," Rin muttered while opening the door, only to unexpectedly meet the boy in question on his way out. "Speak of the devil." She was actually surprised though not for the reason others might have guessed.

"Tohsaka-san," he nodded to her while stepping out, and out of her way quickly. "You're early today."

"I can be as early as I want," she retorted to his retreating back, feeling annoyed. It wasn't just that the two never got along, rather...

 _Kuro is with me (in spirit form of course) but I didn't sense his Saber anywhere. What's he playing at?_

* * *

(Shinji)

Matou Shinji watched Shirou and Tohsaka bounce off one another in the corridor, his usual smirk revealing nothing, not that anyone was looking at him. As a non-magus, he couldn't sense it, but there was no doubt that Tohsaka's Servant was with her. Of course for this exact reason, his Rider was not following him, despite setting up her Noble Phantasm in the school the last few nights. The element of surprise was his.

Just before he had left for school, Grandfather had told him that he had sensed the summoning of a Servant in Tohsaka's house. This meant that be should hurry and finish preparations for his plan - he wanted to be the one to claim her life. Rider had an excellent set of abilities, it was a matter of making them all dovetail perfectly to score the kill.

Of course that meant having to _deal_ with Sakura, since the girl was effectively an intermediary mana-wise between him and his Servant, but that would have to wait. Tonight would doubtless be one of hard work, but worth it.

* * *

Earlier that morning...

(Shirou)

"Shouldn't you hold onto it? I mean as the Servant, you'll be doing the fighting," he questioned Sasaku when she tried to return the healing miracle to him.

"If you die, I'm also dead," came the answer. "Targeting Masters is a well known tactic. The Assassin class in particular is adept at it. It's why hiding your Command Spells was important. You never know who might be watching."

"You're worrying a bit too much," he insisted as his companion of ten years settled back into its place.

She mock-slapped him in response before continuing. "Most people die when they take a spear to the heart. The fact that my current body doesn't do so **immediately** means you should definitely have the life-saving healing miracle."

He nodded on his way out the door. "Will you be resting here?"

"No, I will wait for a bit then move out in spirit form. I want to view the school, but though scrying is possible, being close would be better in an emergency. I will provide overwatch from an appropriate vantage point."

"Alright then, meet me after school at the front gates right? It's a bit odd for you to wear my mother's old clothes, even if I've not actually seen her wear them before."

"Yeah, I don't want Tohsaka to laugh at my bad fashion when it isn't even mine. I'll be there"

* * *

Later in the afternoon...

(Rin)

As she left, thinking about the paperwork that Shirou had asked for her help to deal with _well of course, as the Second Owner, it's only proper, if a **pain**_ , she noticed Sasaku in spirit form hanging around behind a tree some distance away from the school gates. Thinking quickly, she walked over as casually as she could. The allied Servant gently shimmered into view as she approached. Oddly, she shimmers in green rather than the usual gold that Kuro did. " _Kuro, don't show yourself. Anyone could be watching._ "

"Oh there you are," Rin nodded to herself, noticing the girl was still wearing the rather loose dress she had on last night. Oddly enough, she looked better with her first one, even bloodied. "What are you up to?"

"Shirou expects me to meet him here."

"Is he keeping you waiting while he runs more meaningless errands?"

"I don't know. Still, it's important that he keeps to a regular schedule to avoid arousing suspicion."

 _That's giving him way too much credit._ Rin mused. "Can't he walk back by himself though? He's made it this far on his own."

"Hm, hm, he wanted to buy clothes so I wouldn't stand out as much."

Rin grinned, but also realized that it would also be a good idea to do the same for Kuro. "Really now, I think he's never bought clothes for a girl before. You know, if you end up with anything like that Taiga... it'll be terrible. Maybe we should come with you. Girls gotta stick together, right?"

"I don't know," Sasaku mumbled briefly before adding, "Do you know a good place? We can meet there."

 _What, did you actually ask him for permission first just now?_ "Yes. Let me just write down some directions for you..."

* * *

Afterwards in the shopping area...

(Gilgamesh)

"George" was enjoying another walk around town after the church's childcare had closed for the day. It was warm, but pleasantly so, especially compared to the climate of Uruk, the city from another time. As he was thinking about returning before anyone around it got late, he ran into something quite more interesting than he had seen for some time.

She looked quite familiar, though after a moment when the light changed, the difference in hair color put paid to his initial misidentification of the new Servant. However, that loose white dress looked very similar to the ones in his memories...

 _When he saw the girl and woman looking at clothes, the first thing that came to mind was "could - **he** \- have become a Heroic Spirit and been summoned here?" But no, it was only the clothes that looked like his friend's, the girl was someone quite different._

It was a pity, how their **Kings' Agreement** fell apart in the end. Even though he wasn't one overly driven by revenge, he wasn't the only injured party from Kotomine Kirei's machinations, just the only one left now. His red eyes glowed briefly in the light as he turned and left before the approaching pair could sense his presence.

* * *

 _Notes:_  
 _Yes, Gil was referring to Arturia and Irisviel when they were shopping for clothes. It's not a coincidence that both Arturia and now Sasaku are wearing the same dress, as it's literally the smallest one of those in in the house. It's still too large for them - and once they get properly sized clothes they don't wear Irisviel's clothes anymore, especially since she happily spent Einzbern cash on buying clothes..._

 _The King's Banquet (or rather, its counterpart here) had a bit of a different ending, as you might imagine._


	11. Clothes are Complicated

**Clothes are Complicated (Fluff)**

* * *

(Rin)

With Kuro's eyesight, it wasn't hard to pick out out Shirou and Sasaku even among a rather busy crowd. The Archer simply went to the roof of a nearby building in spirit form, then returned to Rin after spotting their targets. Compared to her earlier battle armor and cloak, Kuro looked a lot more like her apparent age with the long pink shirt and light purple skirt that Rin had dug up for her while at home earlier.

The two pairs met after Rin spent few minutes pushing through the crowd. Kuro had no issues just slipping through everyone, which was uncanny even given her size advantage in doing so. Shirou and Sasaku had moved down the road a decent distance from where they had first been spotted - though by the time Rin was getting lost in the crowd, Kuro was close enough to Sasaku to track her by the latter's magical signature. Needless to say, Rin simply followed her Servant without needing to actually see her.

Rin's first observation was that while Shirou was rather anxiously looking around the area, Sasaku was simply or rather calmly systematically scanning the area as though reading a book or something like that. Which looked really uncanny given she still looked like a child despite acting more like a veteran soldier. Or perhaps a certain well-known ruthless assassin...

A frowning Kuro didn't notice as Rin walked up to her. The magus followed her Servant's line of sight and noticed that her Master counterpart was holding his Servant's hand rather loosely. -Huh? Hmm.-

" _Kuro, is something wrong?_ " The smaller girl turned to her with a straight face. " _Oh I was thinking he wouldn't occupy her sword arm if he knew what he was doing._ " Rin didn't believe it in the slightest. Her Servant definitely had some connection with Shirou and she didn't like not knowing. Mentally, she scheduled a thorough digging-for-the-truth session for later that night.

" _It's bright out, nothing will happen here_ ," she replied dismissively.

" _That's naive, Master. For example, if something like a bomb went off at this moment, killing you and Shirou. That's two Masters down without a fight._ "

" _Do you detect any Servants?_ " Rin asked, though the answer came to her uncomfortably quickly even before Kuro's reply. " _No, but anyone can press a detonator._ "

To shake off the sudden sense of dread filling her, Rin stepped forth and grabbed Sasaku's free hand. The Saber glared at her for that. Kuro joined them after a few moments with a bounce in her step that Rin couldn't tell if it was real or not.

"Ah, Emiya-chan," Rin smiled with a familiarity and warmth that she hoped would thaw Sasaku's cold expression at least a little. "Even if you're new here, you can't rely on your brother for something like shopping for clothes you know~" She tried to pull the other girl towards her as subtly as possible since they had caught Shriou's attention, but Sasaku refused to budge any more than a solid statue would.

"Tohsaka-san, what's this about?" Rin nearly ground her teeth as Shriou made it quite clear he had noticed the struggle, which is to say her total loss.

"I was going to take _your sister_ shopping, remember?" she said, trying to sound helpfully as possible given her rising frustration. It seemed her presence was because **Shirou** thought it would be a good idea and convinced Sasaku, rather than the reverse. "After all, I do know the shops pretty well."

"That's true," Shirou mused, his recognition of the situation's awkwardness showing on his face. "I'll just leave you t-"

"No, it's fine. Come with us," Sasaku insisted. It would have been cute, but Rin _really_ wanted to get at Saber without the male Emiya getting in the way.

"Now now, Tohsaka's a good friend, and besides she knows the fashion. Though," he paused and eyed Rin's clothes dubiously. "It might be best to not just copy **her** fashion."

"Why, you..." she growled. He had definitely added that upon noticing the bottom portion of her casual wear. "That's hardly for you to decide-"

"I agree," Sasaku piped up. "It definitely attracts too much attention."

"Enough." Rin was fuming as the Master-Servant pair teamed up against her, if unwittingly. She pointed off in a random direction. "I'll take care of your sister. Emiya-kun, you have your own priorities, right?"

" _Kuro, do something or we'll be here all day._ " Her Archer gave her a dubious look before pushing in between Sasaku and Shirou, who was then forced to let go. Kuro then simply took Sasaku's hand and started pulling her in the direction Rin had indicated, before pausing.

"Uh Rin," Kuro said cautiously. "That shop is..."

She turned to see what it was. _Of course, why **wouldn't** it be a bloody lingerie shop._ Actually wait, this was the best excuse. "Come on Emiya-chan," she muttered coaxingly.

"I have plenty of _those_ ," Sasaku replied indifferently, but she gave in immediately when _Shirou_ shrugged and told her "Off you go." Rin frowned upon discovering that **now** she could lead Sasaku around. _What the hell, why can't my Kuro be obedient like that?_

" _Master, you don't actually want me to follow you there, right?_ "

" _What is it now?_ "

" _Hello, I'm like ten, that makes very little sense. I'll go gather information with Shirou-nii._ " So that was her true intention... so be it then.

" _Fine, keep in touch._ "

 _Eh, why don't I feel like dressing up Kuro as well? Must be because she's the annoying and mischievous sort, while Sasaku is so docile I can't help but want to bully her a little._

As they neared the shop, Rin started eying some of the merchandise. Well, the ones up front were simply the rather fancy type, if of rather standard design, a little further in were the really risque designs. And if she guessed right, extremely expensive. She continued walking towards it with a steady pace. Not only were they expensive, but she really had no use for something only worn in the bedroom.

 _However_ a magus must seek after hidden truths! She turned around and saw that the Servant following her had just finished scanning the shop, and appeared unimpressed. "Well," Rin said after Sasaku's attention returned to her. "Maybe some of this is a bit too early for you-"

"I already said I had plenty, didn't I?" Sasaku just frowned, annoying the magus. " _And_ much better, too."

"What the hell?" Rin muttered. _Oh right, Servants are weird, common sense doesn't quite apply to them. Even if Kuro is apparently as old as she looks, Sasaku might not._

Sasaku smiled rather cutely before adding, "Perhaps you don't have anyone to wear these for?" Rin just coughed and started towards another shop.

"What about this one?" A few of the racks seemed to hold rather elaborate clothing. _Eh, what's up with the shops in this place?_ Even if they didn't buy any, she wondered how some of the frilly dresses might look on the smaller girl. _Or maybe that one with the ribbons on it?_

"They seem unlikely to fit in," Sasaku commented as Rin entered the shop and began looking at the dresses. Which she'd never actually buy let alone wear herself. The prices were also what you'd expect, which is to say rather high, but Sasaku would probably be spending Emiya's money, right?

"Nah, these will be just right. Try it on." She pushed Sasaku towards one of the fitting rooms with a couple of the dresses on her arm.

"What about you?" came the reply from behind the light door. "Oh don't worry about me, I already have a full wardrobe you know? Haha-?" A dress she hadn't picked out came flying over the door and landed on her.

"Oh Rin, that would look perfect on you," a suddenly-appearing Kuro said while smirking. "Shirou-nii said I should go with you two, seems it was a great idea."

Kuro's Master couldn't resist as she was easily herded into another changing room by her Servant, who had a " _do it or I'll make you anyway, so just do it_ " grin on the whole time.

* * *

(A couple minutes later)

" _Why, Master, that looks pretty good on you._ " Kuro eyes sparkled as she look in Rin's new red-and-white clad form. "Though I'd say the white under-skirt should be a bit longer, it sorta lacks impact from any angle other than the front..." She spun Rin about to look. "I wonder what Sasaku would think."

"What? Kuro, I'm not going to-" Rin almost screamed as Kuro swiftly grabbed her clothes and ran out, leaving her with only the dress she had on. " _Deal with it, Master._ "

Looking around, Rin stepped out slowly and found Sasaku was standing next to Kuro. The older girl had taken custody of Rin's clothes and appeared to be studying them. Her mostly white dress had some simple blue accents that looked quite clean in composition. Though blue didn't quite go well with her hair (pinkish) or eyes (green).

"Tohsaka-san, you've modified this?" Sasaku asked while tossing the black miniskirt back towards its owner. The red top soon followed. Rin blinked before understanding the question. "Oh yes, I-" _used magecraft on it so it wouldn't flap about embarrassingly_ is **not** what she said out loud.

"You shouldn't wear something like that if you can't handle the consequences," the Servant only replied dryly, before changing gears to Rin's current attire. "Though I'm not sure what the consequences of _that_ would be."

Rin flushed, remembering how rather gaudily her the front of her dress was decorated in comparison to Sasaku's. Kuro laughed again after looking at the gold thread embroidery and said brightly, "But it fits, right? That sense of _I have something to prove_ , you know? What do you think, Shirou-nii?"

Shirou appeared around the corner as Kuro called for him, and just stopped in his tracks. "Eh?"

Rin immediately turned and ran back into the changing area without another word, her face now a good match for her dress. " _Kuro, you traitor!_ "

* * *

(Shirou)

Kuro's laughter proved that she had been setting him up. Or rather, setting Rin up. He didn't mind, but Rin definitely had, and this meant dealing with the inevitable fallout.

" _Master?_ " The soft inquiry ( _How is it that telepathic communication can even convey that?_ ) pulled his attention towards his Servant. "Shirou-nii, how does it look?" she preened slightly under his eyes.

"Hm, it looks good," he said reflexively. "Though maybe a bit much for just walking about or shopping, I think."

She turned around slowly so he could see the rest of the outfit. "Ok. Do you like it?" _Must be because I'm paying for it, huh?_

"Yeah," he said simply, before Kuro spoke up with, "See Rin, you should've done that too." A flushed Rin who had reappeared with her original clothes threw the dress she had just changed out of at Kuro. "I didn't need it in the first place!"

"Tohsaka-san, please don't make a scene."

* * *

(Rin)

Rin scowled as Kuro quickly escaped with the excuse of returning the dress to its rack. _She'll probably just dump it somewhere convenient._

"While Rin might know more about women's fashion than I do, she's either holding back or just messing with you," Shirou concluded his analysis of the humiliating events evenly. "I might not be an expert, but if you want-"

"Yes." Sasaku said immediately, as Kuro chuckled in amusement from nearby.

"And how would you know?" Rin demanded, feeling the sting of rejection. Even if only in terms of **going shopping**.

"I've seen Sakura in casual-wear while out shopping." _Ugh, foiled by his powers of observation... wait, why Sakura specifically rather than just everyone else out shopping?_

* * *

.

* * *

 _Notes:_  
 _Yes, Kuro is stronger than Sasaku, it should be obvious to you why =P_  
 _Rin's dress was basically like one of the Kaleido Ruby ones._  
 _Sasaku's would be similar to Nanoha (Season 1) I guess, but without the odd puffy sleeve, and a roughly knee-length skirt on it rather than a really long one._

 _I labelled this as fluff, but there might be some plot-relevant details here. But it's mostly content meant for amusement that serious plot-advancement._

 _This Shirou doesn't have **((Harem Protagonist EX))** or whatever, so don't read too much into it if some of the female characters are having fun / messing about. Just FYI :)_


	12. Alliance of Inconvenience

**Alliance of Inconvenience**

* * *

Later that evening...

(Shirou)

"Master, there's a few things we should discuss before Rin arrives later," Shirou's Servant commented once they had entered the Emiya house and closed the door behind them. Besides the dress she had bought with Rin, and some other clothes that Shirou had helped her pick up, Sasaku was also carrying some groceries. Shirou had more of the same, all in preparation for a rather large gathering.

"Sure," he replied easily while sorting out the various ingredients he would use that night. "I assume this means it's important enough to be keep secret." She simply nodded.

"Well, a few things. First of all, so you know, under some conditions, thanks to the **_((Higher Connection))_** skill, I actually net gain rather than lose magical energy." Shirou nodded, not really seeing the significance of this. "Basically, Kuro for example is constantly needing to draw energy from Tohsaka. As a new magus, your mana generation is hardly greater than that of a normal human. Normally, this would greatly affect your Servant's ability to do anything."

He realized what she was getting at. "So basically, anyone can keep you for **free** is what you mean."

She nodded while lifting another bag of groceries effortlessly. He thanked her and looked inside - it was the fish for dinner. "As you can imagine, it's possible to take other people's servants. It would not be wise to tempt Tohsaka, or any magus really, with the possibility to have a second servant."

Shirou didn't comment on that, honestly it seemed like he lucked out on his Servant. "So how much do you actually generate though?"

"Net, about equal to two decent human magi, at its peak. Not very much compared to say, trying to draw from one of the leylines or so on - which I can't do due to the exact skill that causes this - but I, uh..." Sasaku paused awkwardly.

"Your Noble Phantasm, right? Does it use a lot of energy, unlike Lancer's Gae Bolg?"

"About that, er... you see... I sort of don't really have one," she muttered sheepishly. Shirou just stared at his Servant while she fidgeted under his gaze.

"I thought Heroic Spirits have to have one, by definition. You yourself told me so."

"So, so, you see, the Grail screwed me over." Sasaku sighed with a depressed expression. "If you knew how to check, what shows up in that section is something called _**((Realm Marble: Kingdom of Flowers))**_ which transposes the area onto the mentioned Kingdom of Flowers."

"What's that?" Shirou paused, sensing an important bit of information.

"You could say it's the crystallization of my Authority, though that's backwards. It also doesn't matter, since it exists back where I came from, which is so far away I can't get there, even after giving up my current body, without the use of something like the Grail."

"I see, so it doesn't do anything."

"Well, actually... this house is sort of my Realm now, but sadly that isn't the way it works. Either way, it's best if you just kept quiet about it. Ah, if someone was able to see just the rank, it would show up at EX though, since it's a really weird phenomenon."

"I guess. So were those the main items?" Shirou resumed his work, shifting to dinner preparation since everything else had been neatly put away.

"There's one more thing, but you might need to ask Tohsaka for more help. Sorry."

"Yeah? Out with it." Taiga had actually suggested trying to bribe Tohsaka with food. Which all things considered was probably the safest option.

"After careful observations, I've found that my **_((Higher Connection))_** is greatly affected by various conditions. In short, it would probably be best if I accompanied you in a physical rather than spirit form."

"Oh, is that it? Tohsaka, did you hear that?" Shirou could tell that Rin had arrived by the sense of her Servant entering his house. Or rather, Sasaku sensing it and passing on the information.

* * *

(Rin)

She had paused just after letting herself into Shirou's house, thanks to the smell of fish being fried. Until the owner of the house suddenly addressed her.

"Yeah," she muttered as Kuro appeared, already halfway to the kitchen. "It's not a bad idea, there doesn't seem to be any other Masters around school. And-" she glanced at Sasaku who was working over some vegetables with a knife, "I guess you can probably wear some of my older uniforms."

"He meant the paperwork needed," Sasaku frowned as Rin made it quite clear she still wanted to play dress-up with her. "Or do they not care much who enters school here?"

"As long as you pay the fees, pretty much," Rin simply shrugged. "It isn't as though, what, fifteen year old girls are some sort of serious threat." Kuro laughed, interrupting Rin who glared before continuing. "You don't have any guardian though, that would be a problem, unless..."

"I'm sure Taiga will oblige," Shirou said confidently.

"By the way," Rin added, remembering something else. "Your father's will does in fact say simply ' _my child_ ' in case you were wondering."

"Huh. I wonder why they never showed up. The real one, I mean." Shirou frowned while flipping over the fish to check the underside. It went onto a plate with some fresh leafy vegetables. "You didn't change that or anything did you?"

"Hmm? No, I didn't. I have no clue either, had my contacts look but found nothing," Rin lied smoothly. _Actually, there were some odd rumors around the Fourth Grail War, but the Einzburns run a tight ship_.

"I wonder if Kiritsugu was a magus," Shirou mused innocently, not noticing Rin's sudden grimace. "No wait, it should be my biological parents that would have been." He was distracted by the sight of Kuro trying to filch some fish, only to be intercepted by Sasaku.

"Kuro, can you quickly get back home and bring back several sets of my school clothes?" The Servant turned to give Rin a disapproving look, but Rin continued anyway. "It's best for me to not be repeatedly traveling around at night. It's in the same wardrobe as what I usually wear, but they're all the way in the back. I'm sure Emiya-kun won't be done before you return."

000============

(Taiga)

"Shirou, is that dinner? You better not have started without me!" Taiga announced as she stepped into the Emiya house. Shirou just laughed and pointed at the table, which had been set awaiting the arrival of the night's food. Taking the hint easily, Taiga sat down, pouring herself some tea after noting the number of cups and plates set out. Herself, Shirou, Sasaku and...

"Fujimura-sensei?" Rin appeared from one of the rooms down the side corridor, with Sasaku in tow. "Ta-da!" she beamed, pushing Sasaku into the living room ahead of her so everyone present could see.

"Are you already planning on going to school here?" Taiga simply asked in response to seeing the familiar uniform, though she was already wondering if this was Sasaku's idea or Shirou's.

"Shirou-nii said that if I would be staying for a while it was necessary," the girl replied with disarming demureness. "Then Tohsaka-san said _'at least you don't have any language issues'_ and then... it turned out like this."

Taiga thew a smile over at Shirou. Though it was probably Tohsaka who had thought up such a thing, if they were both working together. Why was another question though.

"If even Tohsaka-chan thinks you can jump right in then there's no problems. Leave it to this reliable sensei to get everything sorted out!" she said proudly.

 _Who just laughed?_

* * *

(Sasaku)

"Um, let me quickly change back..." Sasaku tried to get back to her room, but was stopped by a smiling Rin.

"No way, there's no time for that," the bright expression on her face only made the sharp corners of her mouth stand out even more by contrast. "You wouldn't make sensei wait for dinner, right?~"

Sasaku frowned while allowing Rin to pull her over to a chair. _Does she think I can't tell that Kuro is searching my room?_ Not that it mattered much, since almost anything could be and was stored in her **_((Realm's Armory))_** , but it was the principle of the matter.

 _I'm not even sure what she's expecting to find in a Servant's room in the first place, well there's the clothes we bought earlier._

(After dinner)

Sasaku watched the two women praise their host's skills. _Shirou's cooking was even better than last night's. He must have put in extra effort knowing that both Rin and Taiga would be visiting._ She understood well the pride of a craftsman at work.

"Shirou-nii," she asked suddenly in the middle of their cleaning up. "Where are your textbooks? I want to read them." " _Work with me here, I need to get into your room. Now._ "

"They're all on the table in my room," her Master replied easily. "Don't make a mess."

"Do you need some help?" Rin suddenly was on her feet and chased Sasaku. "I'm the top stude-" Both of them paused as Sasaku opened the door to Shirou's room to show it was empty, before stepping in.

"You might as well come out," the Servant said, glaring at Rin as Archer appeared next to her. "Explain what you were doing in Master and my rooms."

Kuro just looked at her in amazement. "How?"

"Are you kidding me?" Rin appeared upset, though it could easily be a ruse.

"I was in spirit form..." Kuro muttered before adding "I was only looking."

The two Servants ended up sharing Rin's frustrated glare. Kuro abruptly disappeared as the door opened behind them, though only Shirou entered. "Ok, what's going on here?"

Sasaku only replied flatly, "Tohsaka's Archer was looking at our rooms."

"I didn't ask her to," Rin grumbled. "For some reason she's gotten attached to you and I don't know why either."

"That's a terrible excuse." Shirou's disappointed look seemed to affect Rin more than Sasaku's anger had. "But you already know I'm barely a magus, there's nothing here to spy on."

"Well **I** knew that already!" Rin stomped out to cover her retreat. Shirou just turned to Sasaku and shrugged. "Is that all?"

"No, I actually want to read those textbooks.

* * *

(Rin)

Sitting opposite Shirou's Servant, Rin fumed at the stupidity of her own - there were limits to curiosity, and as Shirou had correctly pointed out, he had no Mysteries anyway. She herself had checked him and his place a few times. Part of the responsibilities as Second Owner.

Then again, she had also _known_ he wasn't a magus since he was only adopted by the deceased Emiya. But then again... she had been right in that he had no magecraft ability, even if the Grail had decided he could be a Master. _Bah_.

Sasaku was wearing the white and blue dress from earlier in the day. It wasn't clear if she wanted to show it off to Taiga, Shirou, or just remind Rin of the whole embarrassing incident. Worse than that though, was seeing her _top student_ status possibly get demolished.

 _It's a Servant, it doesn't count_ she repeated to herself while watching Sasaku flip through Shirou's textbooks. And frowning in disappointment.

"I can explain anything you need help with," she said helpfully, noticing Taiga's silent amazement.

"You said you're the top student? How far behind is Shirou-nii?" Sasaku asked while putting down the math book after only glancing at it. She picked up another one. "And where are we at in this?"

"Are you not good with math?" Taiga broke her silence.

" _Math_ is universal," Sasaku replied, looking at the spot Rin indicated. "I only wondered what we were covering at this point. Now _this_ varies by location." It was a history textbook.

"Suddenly, Shirou-kun has such a reliable younger sister," Taiga muttered from the depths of her growing depression.

"I just happen to have a habit of reading everything I come across," Sasaku said absently, switching books. "And I hardly forget anything I've read, is all." Taiga sat up suddenly, remembering the potential dangers posed by Kiritsugu's inheritance papers.

* * *

(Shirou)

After Taiga had left in a tizzy, Rin just continued watching as his Servant finished reading the books she had brought out. "Shirou, do you keep all the other books from previous years?"

"Yeah, some are also in my room, but others are probably in one of the storage rooms," he said. "Tohsaka, are you planning on dessert before leaving?"

"Sure, sounds great," the other magus replied. "Kuro will take me back later. No dessert for her."

"Aww, Master~" the immediately-appearing Archer whined. "It was purely innocent." Rin just scowled at her.

* * *

.

* * *

 _Notes:_

 _ _Some more plot. I actually think under Grand Order rules Sasaku's **Realm's Armory** would be her Noble Phantasm as it can be used to attack (details on the restrictions when it's shown), while **Thousand Layered Shields** would be a party defense buff skill. **Higher Connection** would probably be like Dante's self-NP charge skill (it's the best analog I can think of) - but she has nothing like Independent Action, unless "burn mana for anything" counts.  
__

 _It's fun to mess with Rin. Sasaku actually enjoys dress-up, she just doesn't care to indulge Rin._


	13. Halberd in the Dark

**Halberd in the Dark**

* * *

After watching the amusing sight of Rin being carried by a Servant roughly half her height, Illyasviel von Einzbern was not laughing. Her own tall giant of a Servant picked her up easily and jumped down from the rooftop they had been using as a vantage point. After landing in the alleyway below, he lowered her to the ground and returned to spirit form.

Looking around carefully, she sidled up to the wall of the Emiya estate, keeping to the shadows without being suspicious. Pretending to look at a nearby road-sign, she smoothed her white skirt while examining the Bounded Field protecting the house. As she had suspected from earlier inspection at range, it was not like any magecraft that she had seen before - and she had quite the experience.

 _Could it be the Tohsaka's work?_ She frowned, thinking as she walked away calmly. Tohsaka Rin was the last in her family, thus she was almost certainly a Master, which seeing her Servant had only confirmed. Now, the last Emiya was only adopted and not a magus, according to not just Tohsaka but also Kotomine. _Is this some speciality of the Tohsaka family? But her own house didn't have it._

 **Unless** it was a Field you used on other people. It was possible that, being neighbors with the Matou, Tohsaka decided to get a second, hidden, base of operations. As he lived alone (according to her reports, with a guardian who only occasionally dropped by) Emiya Shirou would be the perfect "host".

Just the possibility soured Illya's thoughts. The family should have already informed both Tohsaka and Kotomine that Emiya was Einzbern's, even if they waited on the actual collecting. For that matter, the scouting a few days ago showed that the Matou girl seemed to drop by some mornings, which raised another question of if that family was even participating.

If Matou Zouken was actually a Master, killing him was a priority, higher than Tohsaka, actually - though getting both would clean up the Grail War's founding family list. Also, Kotomine could be eliminated if he interfered with her plans. Apparently he was quite a fighter, but compared to Servants...

" _In sort, a wonderful battlefield of free targets, isn't that right Berserker?_ " She could sense his agreement. A proper stage to showcase his might as the strongest warrior, she had promised him.

* * *

(Later, at the outskirts of Fuyuki...)

"Oi, little ojou-chan," came a challenging voice. After clearing the dense portions of Fuyuki, Illya decided to just walk for a bit to enjoy the open space before reaching the forests around the Einzbern castle.

She looked around. All clear, except for the blue-armored spear-wielding Servant boldly approaching her. Almost immediately, Berserker materialized in order to block his advance.

"Hey, hey!" said the Lancer in a calm tone that sounded like a taunt. "I'm just here to bring a message from my Master to yours." Illya looked around her Servant and simply nodded.

Lancer dropped something on the ground, backed away a few paces before disappearing into his spirit form. After waiting for a moment, the girl walked over and inspected the item before picking it up. It was a Black Key.

 _Kotomine will definitely have to die_ she mused. Berserker picked her up and the pair made haste back home.

* * *

(Einzbern Castle)

"Berserker, I'm going to go over the detection Bounded Field. Do you want to review the battlefield with me?" With the strongest Servant, her main concern was the likes of an Assassin getting in and killing her. Apparently, in the previous War, despite having an excellent Berserker from the catalyst swap between Einzbern and Matou, the latter's loss was due to Master death resulting in the Servant dying in turn from lack of mana.

Honestly though, they really lucked out if that slab of stone actually summoned Heracles. The problem was that, while surer, the halberd Illya had received and used summoned a rather troublesome Servant.

She hadn't been lying though, it was likely that the forests around the castle would become a battlefield sooner or later. Ideally though, after she had collected some information to allow Lu Bu to enjoy the fight to the fullest. After all, a legendary opponent is less impressive if you only know that they are "legendary" without specifics.

"It would be good to use Red Hare," he muttered after a while, looking about the dense foliage that blocked conventional line of sight while on the ground.

"I thought that if you weren't a Rider, it wouldn't be able to keep up with your Servant-level statistics?"

"Just to ride it."

Illya simply nodded and looked about for one of the stones which indicated a Bounded Field's focal point. Her two favorite maids were also part of the group. "So, how well have they been doing with your training?"

"They may slow down a weak Servant. I will take on the strongest. They will suffice." It was rather high praise coming from him. Still, he seemed a little insulted by the question.

"Just a little insurance against trickery," she said soothingly after re-calibrating the focal point. "So I can focus on your fights rather than some sneaky Assassin."

Berserker simply nodded, satisfied.

"Tohsaka's Servant," Illya said suddenly. "If that girl was a Caster, that would explain why the Bounded Field is so unusual. It almost felt foreign to magecraft."

Berserker grunted with a sense of apathy. He only wanted good fights, and Casters were the least likely class to give him one. "I've changed my mind," she announced. "I want Tohsaka alive as well as Emiya. Of course the Servant, even if they're something strong like a Knight you can take them down."

Though Kotomine was not registering Masters, it might be a good idea to meet him anyway. With Berserker in tow of course, the man was messing with the Grail War and trusting someone like him to not stab you in the back was foolishness that deserved a painful and humiliating death.

"I wonder if I should grab the girl first, or the boy?" Illya mused with a cruel smile. "Taking things by strength is the law of the world after all, right Berserker?"

Her Servant agreed.

* * *

 _Notes:_

 _This is the night of Day 2 (Thursday)_  
 _In this story Lu Bu actually can talk (a bit). I didn't feel like giving his PoV the way Excella's side story did. The way Illya summoned him is different from his other appearances elsewhere, so he's also different. His Mad Enhancement trigger is "a ready battlefield" so he can't converse once he feels a fight is about to start._  
 _Illya is quite familar with his legend and is on the watch for signs of betrayal, but she also feels confident that by providing him with battles, she can both keep him on her side and accomplish her goals._


	14. Transfer Student

**Transfer Student (Fluff -** mostly)

* * *

"I wonder if Tiger overslept again, a bleary-eyed boy sitting behind Rin moaned. "I wouldn't mind sleeping some more myself..."

Rin happened to have a pretty good guess about why Taiga was late. It was probably due to underestimating the paperwork she had to do for Sasaku, thus running out of time before class started. The Fujimura was not the most reliable, though at least she wouldn't give up until getting things done eventually.

She glanced at the time when Taiga appeared with Sasaku following - only about a minute late. Not bad, given her record.

"Ok, ok, settle down!" their homeroom teacher announced enthusiastically, as always. "I know you're all excited that it's Friday, but we have someone new joining the class."

 _You're the one excited for the weekend._ Rin groused to herself. _Since you'll get to eat more of Shirou's food._ Though as things stood, handling Taiga with a deft hand would be invaluable.

The new student was, of course, Sasaku. Some of her classmates seated at the back of the room had to stand up in order to be able to see her. "Emiya Sasaku. I'm a returnee from the West, I'll be in your care." She dipped her head elegantly and stopped.

A few people somewhere behind, she couldn't see who due to sitting in the front row but could make out the voices, whispered to one another. Silence fell as as Taiga scanned the room looking for where to place the newcomer.

"There's only vacant seats at the back, so pick one for now," she said finally, seeing their math teacher stepping up to the door. "Right next to Emiya." Sasaku nodded and quietly made her way to the indicated place.

* * *

Rin took a look at the problem, which was set out in prose form. Since the relevant information and equation were already set out in front of them, that part was done...

(A while later)

"So, does anyone have an answer?" Rin slowly looked around to see, _unsurprisingly_ , everyone else carefully avoiding eye contact with their pacing teacher. Who noticed Rin. However, at that moment, Sasaku muttered the mentioned answer in a low voice, that nevertheless was quite clearly audible in the silence.

"Ah," the lifeline was quickly seized. "Emiya-chan seems to have an idea, why don't you show us what you have?"

 _Hmpphm.._

Rin wondered how many people, like her, were having trouble fighting the urge to giggle when Sasaku awkwardly began writing. She might be (secretly) a Servant, but her simple lack of height even when standing on tip-toe meant there was still a substantial gap between what was already up on the board and her first line.

Though, since she finished with only two lines and the answer, it wasn't even needed.

"Right," the girl said before pausing and raising her voice (probably so those at the rear could hear her). "First simplify. Next, you could solve symbolically, but it's faster to just put in the numbers since we won't be re-solving. Then calculator work." They didn't actually use calculators, though she probably just meant mentally.

"Well," the teacher said after a moment had passed, making it clear Sasaku wasn't about to elaborate. "That's correct, though... you've skipped _a lot_ of steps." Sasaku nodded in understanding.

"Long version, first you chop it up into bits-" Someone, actually several someones, laughed because she was actually making chopping motions with one hand.

"Why don't we let someone else try the explanation," came the interruption. "Tohsaka, what do you have?"

Rin shrugged while taking Sasaku's place in front of the class. She had noticed that when the Servant had been told that she "skipped a lot" her enthusiasm took a sudden drop.

* * *

(Start of the first break)

"Tohsaka-san," Shirou said conversationally before she left the classroom to get something to eat. "Can I ask you for a favor?"

"Out with it Emiya-kun," she replied, noticing Sasaku hovering a little behind him. And several of the class' girls behind them.

"Could you switch places with Sasaku? She, er, can't _see_ from the back." Taiga had probably not even thought of that.

"I sort of like my spot though..."

"But Tohsaka, weren't you one of those that wanted to sit at the back, but then you moved because Fujimura was getting annoying at how everyone left the front places open?" She glared at Shinji for directly contradicting her. "I've gotten used to it, ok?"

"Don't worry, Emiya-chan," he continued insincerely, "I will happily trade with you." He was one of those that was actually dragged up front. Neither his behavior nor moods were helped much by the relocation.

Rin and Shirou shared a brief look.

"I'm closer to the middle, so it's probably better for you to take my spot," Rin said with an air of _don't-mess-with-me_.

"Tohsaka-san has a good point," Sasaku said after another moment of tense quiet. "But thank you for offering, er..."

"Shinji," he said with the sort of greasy smile that Rin hated the most. Having to deal with that brat was one of the things she pitied Sakura for having to put up with, doubtless the reason why the girl showed up early to school so frequently.

"You haven't been introduced, sorry." Shirou apologized while putting himself between the two. "Sasaku, this is Matou Shinji, a friend of mine." The boy's smile slipped a bit. "Shinji, Emiya Sasaku. As you might have guessed, my sister."

"It's nice to meet you Matou-san," Sasaku said politely. "I hope we can be friends as well."

"Well, yeah. Don't let your brother drag you around on his errands though. Or Tohsaka for that matter," Shinji replied curtly before walking off.

"He's always like that," Shirou frowned at his _friend_ 's back. "Don't take it to heart."

"You're too kind, he doesn't know how to treat a girl," Rin shot back sourly. She hoped he could hear.

Shinji wasn't his usual sarcastic self, which meant he was probably angry. That jerk always went for the quiet girls, thinking _this time_ he could get his hands on them. Hopefully he wouldn't take it out on Sakura, the one girl who couldn't get away from him...

Rin quickly beat a retreat as their classmates crowded towards Sasaku. Interestingly enough, it was all girls. There were a few reasons that came to mind.

While one might be tempted to guess that after seeing what had happened with Shinji, the other boys decided to bide their time, actually he was the only one that seemed directly interested earlier. Keen senses and a habit of human observation showed her another reason, namely:

 _'Isn't she a bit early for our year?'_

 _'Was she really born here though...'_

 _'That's a dangerous age isn't it?'_

 _'Doesn't look like Emiya at all...'_

and other such comments.

That's right, they simply didn't know what to make of her. Humans tend to fear the unknown, and shy away from engaging with it. _Well, actually_ \- Rin watched with amusement as Shirou was subtly but quickly separated from Sasaku, who was immediately questioned by her now-classmates.

Of course curiosity and the need to find hidden truths was all too human, magi or not.

* * *

Rin returned in time to hear the girls switch to another favorite topic: romance. She felt a tinge of guilt as they pressed the small newcomer for any interesting tidbits about herself - did she have anyone back west, was there anyone here in Japan, did people in the west start dating much earlier than here, what did she think about the boys in their class?

 _Wow, that's just bloody terrible, and intrusive._

"That Matou-san, he's quite a thing, huh?" Rin nodded to herself in agreement. Shinji's terrible character was totally well-known, and the girls were constantly pulling away _heh, rescuing more like_ anyone he tried to get his claws on.

"Eh, what?!" several of them exclaimed at once. Rin immediately took note of their surprise and tried to recall what Sasaku had muttered to herself just a before it.

* * *

 _"I'm already taken though."_

Is what she had said. Rin sweated heavily, remembering what she had accidentally revealed to one of those girls earlier that day.

She wanted to curse, _but actually, this isn't my fault right? I mean Sasaku herself said that, I had nothing to do with it, or whatever conclusions people draw from it._ She thought about her earlier slip-up.

 _Yeah, those two can be loud-mouths, but they won't reveal their source, which is to say me, so... I'm just going to pass on this._

* * *

.

* * *

(Shirou)

"Tohsaka, is something wrong? You look like, uh wait what?"

Returning with some food for Sasaku, Shirou blinked as Rin started upon hearing his inquiry and immediately dashed off. Before he could wonder what was up, or think to follow her and ask, a couple of the girls from his class had broken off from the group around Sasaku and cornered him.

"Hey Emiya-kun, what's Sasaku-chan to you?"

" _Sasaku, what's this about?_ "

" _I... I made a mistake._ " his Servant replied morosely.

"One moment," Shirou muttered noncommittally as he saw his friend Issei coming down the hall. "Ryuudou, I was just looking for you."

"Emiya." The other male saw his friend's situation and immediately caught on. "Is this a good time?"

"Excuse me," Shirou apologized while freeing himself to join Issei. The two of them hurriedly made their way to the student council room before anyone else could interfere.

"Thanks for the help." After closing the door and locking it, Shirou turned to see his friend wearing a serious expression. "Was there actually something you needed?"

Issei hesitated before replying in a delicate tone "I've heard that you might be having some problems. No, not just problems, Tohsaka and the new girl are ganging up to take your father's estate?"

"Er no, they hadn't met before. Actually I asked Tohsaka to help my sister settle in since, uh." He couldn't give the _real_ reason which was Tohsaka already knew about the War and Sasaku's status as a Servant. However, Issei took this as a sign that he needed help.

"But how quickly did she get involved? It's suspicious, doesn't she have links to western families as well? You must admit, it's over a decade after everything was settled with the Emiya estate."

 _Well, that's true... huh, he's actually onto a real conspiracy by Tohsaka here, but how inconvenient._

"That's true I suppose, but it isn't like Sasaku is staying with Tohsaka, she's in the Emiya house with me, and Taiga will be taking care of the paperwork. We've got it covered as well as can be."

"That's not the real danger," Issei continued darkly. "It's possible that she's aiming for you directly."

* * *

.

* * *

(The Matou house)

(Shinji)

 _An interesting play, Tohsaka - but careless._ The events of the last few days, or rather nights, now made the chess board clear to Shinji. Though he had kept Rider out of the house to avoid detection, Sakura had been able to tell that his neighbor's Servant had been coming and going since being summoned.

Unfortunately for her, he wasn't foolish enough to think that the Grail would let the last Tohsaka skip out on the War, especially as he knew even someone like Sakura was selected. Thus, the appearance of "Emiya-chan" was a major red flag. Though it was risky, Sakura was apparently hard to tag as a magus, so he had been able to use her to confirm that Shirou's suddenly-appearing _sister_ was most likely Rin's Servant.

He nodded to himself upon seeing Sakura returning - early for her, but even if suspicious, necessary. Tohsaka knew too much and might guess she was the Matou's Master or not. She might take action too.

 _Hmm, either tonight or tomorrow night will be the critical battle_. "Rider, how are your prana levels?"

"Last night Sakura filled up my prana reserves, however, she herself is very low currently," the Servant replied clinically.

"She'll have to endure it for a night or so, I don't know exactly when we'll encounter Tohsaka, but if it isn't tonight then we can prepare more." Shinji frowned, trying to balance the books. It was a hard problem given that he simply couldn't _tell_ how much his sister and Servant were holding. They didn't have convenient little blue bars to show.

"If we get more prep work in tonight, will you be able to refill from her tomorrow during daytime?"

"That would not be possible without killing her." _Damn, that's what I get for trying to play too close to the line._

"Ok, instead just go and watch the school. Definitely don't get too near unless you've seen both Tohsaka and Emiya leave. If the latter does without a girl following him, then come back immediately. Or if you spot Tohsaka returning. Also, if there's any tampering with the foci for your Bounded Field."

"What about you?"

Shinji shrugged, halfway out of his room. "I'll have to _take care_ of Sakura. If the coast seems clear then you'll have to keep working by yourself. Ball's in Tohsaka's court on when her funeral is."

 _If she goes for it tonight, then being too low myself would be bad. I'll have to hedge and pass a little to Sakura._

* * *

.

* * *

(Later, outside of school)

(Shirou)

Sasaku's Master sighed as the two left the school and casually strolled towards the shopping district. Somewhere along the way a small girl popped out of a side street and joined them. "What a bloody mess. Oh hello Kuro, what are you up to?"

"Just wandering around. So, onii-chan having girl problems?"

The trip walked a little further before Shriou finally replied. "You already heard about it while hanging around Tohsaka, right? There's no need to mess around with me."

"Well..." Kuro paused with a smile as Rin appeared and joined them. "It's not like Rin gets involved in regular girls' gossip, huh? Right?"

"What are you talking about?" Rin muttered, flushing slightly as attention was called to her.

"Not you too, oh wait, no. You actually do know what's going on, what was I thinking..." For some reason Kuro seemed very interested in what was going on, not that he could figure out what her angle was, other than _messing with everyone_.

"Tohsaka-san, you've dealt with things like this before, can you give me some advice?"

"Oho~ well Rin, she-"

"Shut up Kuro," her Master snapped, before replying. "This one will be free, since it's, er... well, just do nothing."

"That's good advice, Shirou-nii," his Servant added. "After all a lot can be solved by just ignoring it. Though that reminds me, um, I need to pick up something... it won't be long."

Sasaku walked off, and after a moment Kuro bounced after her. Rin turned to Shirou with a serious expression. "Hey, I've been wondering for a while now. About Sasaku, that is."

"What about her?" He muttered, distracted by something in one of the shops.

"Well, you're quite lucky to have met her," Rin said after a while, watching him closely. "But I have been wondering how you're able to **support** her. A girl like that isn't trivial to keep around, after all."

Shirou froze, which wasn't missed by the other magus. "You'll have to explain that to newbie me," he said after a while. Rin's eyes narrowed as she looked at his hand which no longer _visibly_ showed the Command Seals she had seen earlier.

"No, I, well forget that." She switched to. "Did you or Sasaku notice anything odd at school?"

"Besides Issei _really_ being suspicious of you, half the guys looking at me like I'm some sort of criminal, along with the half of the girls who weren't just randomly giggling, and I only just realized why?"

"Eh. Deal with it." Rin replied tersely and waited for him to continue.

"But anyway, what is it, you think there's a Servant around? Sasaku never mentioned anything to me."

"We'll have to discuss this later," Rin stopped him.

* * *

(Sasaku)

"So, what are you getting?" Kuro asked after sidling up to her.

"Clothes." Sasaku replied while heading towards one of the shops that she remembered seeing the previous day.

"I thought you already picked those up yesterday?"

"Underclothes." "Huh." The smaller Servant just shrugged as Sasaku grabbed a couple of the mentioned item and paid for them. "I thought you said you had that."

"Well, in the first place, I meant -" Sasaku stopped in the middle of her explanation. "You knew what happened, you tell me."

" **I** did, Rin actually only heard some random things that filtered through. But I see what you're getting at. So it's all of _that_ type?"

"Yeah."

Sasaku and Kuro just looked at one another, each waiting for the other to do something. After a moment, Kuro simply laughed, "Not that I mean anything by it, but your husband must have very _interesting_ tastes."

"I don't generally look like this when we - ah, you know that's not how legends work. I tend to look like this outside, so that's what I look like."

"Ooh, I see," Kuro said after a moment. "It must be troubling huh, after you got the guy and all, but outsiders don't realize it."

"Well among my own people everyone already knows though, and I've always looked like this since the beginning so it's not an issue."

"But it is _here_ , right? That's why you-"

"It's not really that important. Stupid gossip is inevitable," though Sasaku was fuming about it. "Let them have their cliche web novel story and forget about it when the next edition comes out. Let's go back before your Master tries to arm-twist mine into something we'll both regret."

"That won't really happen though," Kuro followed her. "I mean, you can tell she's quite interested in him, right?"

"Maybe," was all Sasaku would give. "I've quite the experience with boy-girl relationships, and I wouldn't put anything on that one."

"You really think she's trying to lead him on?"

"No, though more because _would he even notice_? But I can tell she's serious about, or at least prepared for, the War."

"Hmm," Kuro mumbled. "It's a pity how these things go... oh right, so do you have any in my size? You can't use them right?"

"I'm going to pretend I have no idea what you mean, since you totally have no need for that."

"You're such a spoilsport."

* * *

.

* * *

(Earlier that morning.)

( _What happened with_ Rin)

"So, so, isn't that like the story from a manga?" her friend concluded cheerfully. "The pair are pushed together by circumstances - **check**. Even if they're supposed to be siblings, they aren't actually related - **really check**. As they fight over something important - **check** \- they then discover that the greatest treasure is their relationship. _And then, and then_..."

Rin jumped in as the other girl ran out of breath. "Don't you think that's drawing it out much? I mean she's only arrived and they haven't even seen the will to know if there's anything to fight over."

"No, no," Having recovered her breath, and seeing another curious classmate join them, she continued with aplomb. "Of course the **twist** is - if they do get married then it all works out right? Since they'll both be living in the house regardless, and their children will inherit it all anyway. But maybe that's too obvious a conclusion."

"Perhaps if suddenly another guy or girl shows up and throws a wrench in everything. Or one of them made a really stupid childhood promise or something. Emiya-kun's history before the big fire and getting adopted is a big mystery, even to him, after all."

Rin groaned. Making up a story for Taiga was not a big deal, she had every reason to want to keep everything as quiet as possible. Sasaku had actually done the fabricating to start of with.

But letting _her_ in particular get carried away, meant some sort of karmic justice would reach out from the Root (or Throne of Heroes, since that's basically Servants' homes) and bite her. Probably when either Sasaku or Shirou heard about it and realized the 'leak'.

* * *

.

* * *

 _Notes:_  
 _This is Day 3, which is Friday, for the record._


	15. Crane Flaps Wings (Battle)

**Crane Flaps Wings (Fight)**

* * *

(Emiya house)

(Shirou)

The doorbell rang. "It's unlocked!" Shirou called out, knowing it was probably Rin, since Taiga both knew and wouldn't bother checking. Rin entered and closed the door as Kuro appeared in front of her.

"Hey Sasaku, I've been wondering," the visiting magus asked casually, as the addressed Servant looked up from the book she had been reading. "What's up with your weird Bounded Field... Caster?"

From where he was in the kitchen, Shirou saw Sasaku jump to her feet as Kuro's twin swords flashed into her hands. The Archer darted forward.

" _Master, get down!_ " A long polearm appeared in his Servant's hands as she rushed to intercept Kuro.

* * *

(Sasaku)

Kuro may have had the element of surprise but, probably expecting the longsword, was repelled by the reach and heft of the swordstaff facing her. "Gah." That said though, unlike Lancer, she was serious from the very start.

Rather than let up, the Archer immediately charged in again. Rather than her instinctual thrust, Sasaku shortened her grip and instead pulled back while slashing. A couple of fine needle-like beams shot out towards Kuro but simply dissipated due to her Magic Resistance.

From behind, Rin had shot several Gandr, taking advantage of the height difference between the two Servants to avoid hitting her own. A couple did hit, but _of course, a human's curse is much easier to purge with **((Higher Law))**_.

"Stop playing around," Rin said while making towards the kitchen, which Sasaku noticed immediately. _Damn, **Shirou**!_

When she looked back, Kuro was holding **two** pairs of swords which were immediately flung towards her. Moving sideways and backwards to gain as much time as possible, Sasaku swiped at the two nearest to her and then on the return swing, the other two.

 _Wait, where did Kuro go?_

* * *

(Shirou)

"Aggh!" Shirou felt the air painfully leaving his body as it was slammed against the wall. Despite her size, Rin had thrown him easily, was it some form of magecraft?

"I don't want to hurt you," Rin threatened him almost apologetically. Given that she had him at... spellpoint, he sincerely hoped she was telling the truth.

Just to the side, Kuro's thrown swords were repelled, but rather than just buying time for Rin's action, it seemed she had already been planning a serious attack from the start.

There was a brief moment where the Archer was standing empty-handed in front of Sasaku, while her swords closed in. But right as the weapons were parried, Kuro appeared behind her opponent.

" _Behind_!" The warning came too late.

Sasaku let go of her weapon and reached for a dagger, but before she could do so or turn, Kuro's low kick slammed into the back of her right knee, sending her to the ground.

* * *

(Sasaku)

Despite being able to track the four thrown swords with ease despite their unusual motions through the air, thanks to the nature of Shirou's house becoming her Realm, it was basically this usefulness that betrayed her.

Kuro's technique allowed a short-distance feat similar to teleportation - this was obvious when she disappeared from in front of Sasaku's eyes without leaving any discernible trail. This was, of course, because she didn't directly traverse any space, or take any time to do so. A more seasoned warrior would have immediately moved forward, as it was clearly empty of threats.

 _But I instinctively tried to widen my search area instead of dodging forward._

 ** _..._**

Reaching forward as Sasaku lost her balance and fell over, Kuro grabbed a fistful of her opponent's hair, dragging her head backwards while jamming a foot into the back of her knee to keep her down. "Sorry onee-chan, but this is your loss."

Kuro was just faster on the draw, with a new weapon appearing about as fast as the speed of thought, compared to the delay in triggering the Armory and then withdrawing a sidearm. The latter process also took an act of will to activate, hand motions aside.

It was this, faster, white shortsword that was pressed against Sasaku's neck.

* * *

(Shirou)

" **O~nee~chan~**?"

Kuro drew her weapon ever so gently across his Servant's neck, leaving behind a thin red line that also smudged on the blade's edge. "Yes, it's Kuro's victory," Sasaku hastily admitted after being thus _prompted_.

"What do you want?" Sasaku said hesitantly after a moment. Kuro grinned and scraped her sword across the kneeling girl's skin, which had no real purpose except to make her tremble. _She's just rubbing it in_ he thought sourly.

"I was thinking it was time to negotiate the terms of our alliance," Rin said airily.

"What?- Argg-!" Shirou dropped to the ground as Rin's unleashed Gandr hit him. "Don't make sounds like you're dying, it can't do that."

She smiled sweetly before continuing, "Besides I know your Servant's Noble Phantasm will heal it away in a bit. Oh yes, I can tell this close - it's a terrible fit for her class by the way."

"Why?" he muttered into the ground. His body didn't seem able to respond in any way.

"This is a discussion between us two magi," she responded over her shoulder while walking towards the two Servants. "Just pipe down until we're finished. So..."

"What do you want?" Sasaku repeated herself in a somewhat fainter voice than before as Rin bent down to meet her at eye level.

"Hmm, for starter's, how about **everything** ," the human magus said with a victorious tone. "Go on, beg me for it."

"I see." His Servant's flat, almost tired, response matched the thin filament of blood making its way down her collar. "So, I won't betray you for the entirety of the War, is what you want."

"And...?"

Shirou wanted to scream, pound his fist into the floor, _anything but just watch_ as Sasaku added as though it were a mere afterthought, "And... if Kuro and I are the last Servants, I will kill myself so you can take the Grail."

"Yes, I think that'll do," Rin said, before Sasaku added "One thing. If-when I die, then you will take Shirou into your protection, as long as he wants it."

"Sure," Rin agreed easily, taking a piece of rolled up vellum from her skirt pocket and a pen. "One moment." She quickly wrote something on it before holding up the finished result in front of Sasaku's eyes.

"Do you know what this is?" Shirou didn't, but thanks to the Grail's information, his Servant did. She only replied with "Yes. I see you've planned this well in advance."

Rin reached out and ran a finger across Kuro's sword, dipping the end of the pen in her blood in order to sign the geas scroll. She then wiped the pen clean and handed it over to Sasaku.

"It won't count unless both sides sign, so do your part." Touching the pen to the blood staining the top of her dress, Sasaku did so without comment.

After confirming that the contract had taken hold properly, Rin turned to face Shirou. "Rejoice, new magus. I will guarantee your life." _Damn it, damn it!_ -\

"Kuro, we're done here for n-?"

With the same smile looking as though it was fixed on her face, Kuro let her weapon disappear before grabbing Sasaku by the arm and slamming her into the wall behind where she had been standing.\\\

Rin was taken off guard. "Kuro, what are you doing?"

"I just want a little bit~" Kuro practically sang while bringing her lips up to Sasaku's. Although taller, her target was slumped against the wall making it easy. Whether from shock or because it was pointless, Sasaku didn't even respond.

With some effort, Shirou turned his head rather than be forced to watch, but he couldn't prevent himself from -hearing- as Rin's Servant plundered the spoils of her victory.

* * *

(Kuro)

 _Ah, that was soo good~_.

Kuro ran her tongue around the inside of her mouth then over her lips, savoring the _taste_ of mana that went beyond the usual senses. After a moment, _huh, it hasn't healed yet?_ she ran her finger up Sasaku's still-trickling stream of blood and licked it clean.

"Kuro?" She didn't hear Rin spluttering as a shimmering filament of her? Sasaku's? saliva caught her eye. _Eh, might as well go for seconds._

Kuro leaned in again, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Pausing, she turned to see that the interruption was a blushing and -furious- Rin.

"What. The. Hell. Are you doing?!" Rin ground out. "Just because we have a contract, does **not** mean it's fine to molest her!" Able to pull himself up by now, Shirou noted that Sasaku had not responded at all as Rin exploded in indignation.

She did as well. "For goodness sakes, what did you do, did you bloody break her?"

"I just took a bit of mana," Kuro grumbled to herself. "You'd go nuts too if you were breathing in all this amazing magical energy and couldn't actually get any of it."

"Eh?" Rin looked around in confusion. "Now that you mention it, I don't seem to be able to regenerate my prana anymore."

"It's as dense as before, how can that be?" The two of them thought about it for a moment before Rin suddenly added "Oh, I can again."

The magus frowned as the unsettling thought passed through her mind that she actually had no idea what Sasaku's Bounded Field even did, even if the Caster couldn't actually use it to harm her now.

"It hardly looks like _a bit_ ," she said after a moment. "Look, she's totally out of it."

"That shouldn't happen to a Servant though." Snapping her fingers in front of Sasaku's face, Kuro felt a bit guilty when the other girl just continued staring blankly at her. She thought about how much mana she had managed to pull from her earlier. _It wasn't actually all that much_. "You, you are a Caster, right?"

"Yes," came the reply in a dull tone.

"I see," Kuro replied after a moment, walking over and picking up Shirou. "Rin, basically it's a combination of her being much lower on mana than I had guessed, and-" she placed Shirou next to Sasaku so they were leaning on one another.

"And? That was a prana-draining skill?" Rin asked impatiently.

"Yes, and well, I guess I'm just a really good kisser?" Rin thonked her on the head, though it had no effect on a Servant of course.

* * *

(Shirou)

" _Are you ok? Though, I don't know what I could do..._ "

" _Yeah... just..._ " Was all she seemed capable of sending back. Shirou felt his hands clench into fists, though it was a beyond pointless gesture.

Rin cleared her throat, pointedly looking away from anyone else in the room. "Since the contract is sealed, er-"

" **Leave.** " The words creaked out through his tight throat, though without losing any of their force. "You've abused my hospitality _enough_ as is." It seemed to grow easier as he continued venting. "I won't be cooking for anyone tonight, not even myself."

Going by how Rin's eyes tightened and she grabbed Kuro by the arm, it hadn't gone without effect. "Of course. Will you two be alright?"

"We'll live."

 **...**

Silently he watched as the pair disappeared into the courtyard outside in order to travel back to the Tohsaka house by rooftop. As the door closed behind them, Sasaku shook herself.

"I seriously **never** wanted to experience _that_ again," she said in a heartbreaking tone.


	16. Swords in the Dark

**Swords in the Dark**

* * *

(Earlier in Day 3. Before Crane Flaps Wings's events)

"So, what did you manage to scout out?" Rin asked once back in the privacy of her home's Bounded Fields.

"Yeah, so it's like you guessed - as far as I can tell," Kuro replied easily, returning to her Master's last instructions. "It seems like focal points for a larger ritual. However, either the final product is very complex, or some of those points are redundant."

"Which means... they're preparing the school as a battlefield."

"Or were, since you didn't detect it earlier. It's likely they were intended to be concealed, but they were unable to maintain that feature. Though there might be even more foci that you haven't noticed either." Kuro shrugged. "I'm not a magus, but I would say this is probably not the doing of one."

"I have a suspicion."

"Huh?"

"Based on the events we know, two nights ago Rider and -a- Master were killed, right? And then suddenly ' _Saber_ ' shows up with Shirou."

"You mentioned it."

"Suppose that the Grail did indeed give Shirou Command Seals. He wouldn't be able to summon a Servant, he doesn't have the ability or the knowledge. But..." Rin thought over the events of that night. "He could have found her Masterless if in fact her Master, not Rider's was the dead one. There's still a problem though, which is accounting for all the energy."

Kuro picked up on her line of thought. "So on one side, Shirou. And you say the leylines haven't been touched noticeably."

"Yes, but on the other side, she had to have healed through Gae Bolg somehow, and there's also the Bounded Field around the Emiya estate which is very unusual. You've gone through it a few times, what do you think?"

"On first thought, it feels like the air is sweeter in there, I'd guess the field functions to collect prana. But it's too complicated for just that." The Archer recalled her various trips in and out of Shirou's home. "It's more like a mist, not well-defined. I'm not sure what it is, but probably not a standard ritual circle or runes."

"Alright," Rin summed up the evidence they had. "Sasaku should need a lot more energy than Emiya can supply. There's an unusual Bounded Field at his house that seems to collect prana, and there's also something massive being done at the school."

"Wait, I see what you're getting at... but if she's actually a Caster class, how could she have fought off Lancer? And why not attempt to draw on leylines if it was so critical to gather prana?"

"She lied." Rin said simply. "If she was able to convince or trick Emiya into becoming her Master, it was nevertheless the case that we immediately showed up. So she couldn't do anything overt."

"If she's linked to whatever's going on at the school, it isn't very covert either..."

Rin felt as though everything was sliding into place, like a neat puzzle. "That's the clincher, and you revealed it earlier. She couldn't maintain it while out of action for a few days."

"Ah, so she made an excuse to be able to show up in the school in a physical form, is what you are thinking."

"Think about it, besides her own Master, there's me. And if I was out of the way, then it might be safe to start draining the leylines."

Kuro frowned while thinking about the possibilities. "If that's the case then she'll have to backstab us, since a Caster would be at a disadvantage against any Servant with Magic Resistance. If you're right, then the earlier the better for her."

"That would also go for us... if she's a magus then we can deal with her early without losing her strength," Rin mused. "I should have everything needed for this. Ideally we should wrap it up tonight."

"You won't be going to school until Monday though, is it really that urgent?" Kuro followed her into the storeroom where various reagents were kept.

"What are you thinking? They expect us over in a few hours. If they suspect we suspect, they'll stab first. And being in another magus' Bounded Field is dangerous enough, a Caster's Territory is amazingly dangerous." Rin checked a mental list, first was of course a suitable piece of vellum as a base.

"You mean - oh I see. She could be aiming to control instead of killing you, this means actually Shirou-nii's home would be a better place than the school." Kuro's offhand addition made Rin shudder at the thought.

"Do you think she's controlling him?" It was one thing for a magus to attempt on another. But a barely-magus like Shirou would have nearly no resistance. In fact, herself against a Caster wouldn't be guaranteed to fare any better.

"If she had I think you'd have noticed. It's more likely she saved on energy and risk and is manipulating him. He'd be a sucker for some small girl he picked up wounded."

"I'll deal with him. You'll need to go all-out at the very start before she can try anything on me. I can use my jewels as added insurance, but it won't do much if she really tries on her second attempt on me."

"Try not to be too rough. If your plan works, it will be better if he cooperated." Kuro glanced at the scroll Rin was working on. "Geas on her or not, he still has Command Spells."

* * *

l

* * *

(Late Night, still Day 3. Tohsaka house)

(Rin)

 _*SMACK*_

To say it hurt her more than her Servant would be a serious understatement. In fact, it probably did exactly nothing to Kuro, while to her, it felt like she'd slammed her hand into a wall.

"Are you alright, Master?" Kuro asked with only a little less cockyness than usual, while watching Rin hold her painfully throbbing hand.

"This is your fault," she said after a moment, still fuming. "That **stunt** was uncalled for."

If the small girl had been remorseful earlier, it certainly wasn't toward Rin. "I think we crossed the line of _being called for_ a long time before that."

"Did you... seriously think... a Caster is like a mana battery or something?"

"Casters normally run though magical energy like maniacs compared to other Servants. Though it seems that she hasn't been able to get her hands on any..."

"Are you sure about that though, the house had quite a lot just floating about. You yourself said it was rather dense."

"I said, oh I didn't say, but it's only _relatively_ dense. The usual ambient density being what it is, even double or triple that won't amount to much in terms of storage. Well, for a human it might feel suffocating though?"

"It didn't." Rin said immediately. "Otherwise I would have noticed before you mentioned it."

"Talking about noticing things, you didn't tell Emiya about the ritual being prepared at the school."

Frowning at the unsubtle poke, Rin simply replied with, "Thanks to you."

Kuro shrugged impassively. "You _can_ use a phone right? Just call him."

"You honestly think he'll listen?"

"I actually meant Sasaku, but either one might pick up the phone. I guess he's the most likely to though."

* * *

(A minute later. Emiya house)

(Shirou)

 _*ring* *ring*_

Shirou looked over at the ringing phone with a frown before picking it up. "Emiya household."

"Emiya-kun, something dangerous is happening at the school. Magecraft ritual, a fairly major one. Ask Sasaku if she noticed anything at school today," came the crisp words. Probably rushing before he might hang up.

" _Sasaku, can you come to the phone for a second?_ "

"A moment," he told her simply. "This better be good though."

"What is it?" Sasaku's voice came softly towards him as she walked up. "Is that Tohsaka?" she added after thinking.

"Go ahead and tell me what this dangerous thing is," Shirou simply said in reply. "Sasaku can hear you easily like this."

"Right. Thanks for hearing me out. Sasaku, did you notice anything while at school today?" Rin went for the direct approach.

Sasaku leaned in to the phone. "There were some points of particular mana concentration. I take it those weren't yours, since you're asking."

"It can't be anything good, we need to deal with it. We should let the Overseer know - if someone is willing to go that far, it could compromise the Moonlit World."

"I suppose," Sasaku dubiously said after a moment. "That you intend for us to do this for you."

"No, I'm _intending_ for us to work together. This is too suspicious, it's at best preparations for later, at worst a trap," Shirou nodded, as far as almost anyone should know, Rin was the only Master in the school, so it would be aimed at her.

"Hmm? Well anyway, when it comes to magecraft of course your Caster is the ideal class. Kuro will come along in spirit form, and when the enemy tries to act we'll get them two-on-one and pay them back in full. With interest. Double." Rin was clearly slipping into her gloating-victory-speech mode.

"Yeah, yeah, I get the jist of it," Shirou groaned. "We'll go early tomorrow and do what we can, and at night when it's clear we can finish it off. That about right?"

* * *

(Tohsaka House)

(Rin)

"We'll meet up tomorrow morning, for Shirou to ' _show Sasaku around_ '. By her description, she can't easily identify or most likely deal with the focal points unless she gets close." Rin walked over to her store room while thinking.

"If it's a trap, wouldn't we be risking springing it while people are in the school?" Kuro said after a moment. "You mentioned the Overseer, isn't something like this his problem?"

"I don't have proof, and I hate that jerk," Rin grumbled to her Servant while picking up a selection of gems. "It's worth a shot I guess."

* * *

(Kirei)

 _*Sound of a ringing phone*_

"Fuyuki church, Kotomine here."

"Kirei. Someone's preparing a major ritual in the school, have you heard about it?"

"Oh?" Kirei simply let the moment hang as he considered the information. In the previous, his, War, Caster had done some outrageous things, resulting in a large number of children running about with wild tales. Of course, it was swamp gas, or something. He forgot what exactly it was all put down to.

"It will take a while to examine this claim, Rin." He said finally as an _interesting_ idea came to him. "I will make some calls - the first to bring proof of this will be rewarded."

"What, you're going to turn my school into a free-for-all zone?" Rin spluttered incredulously.

" **If** you had dealt with it and then given me the proof, it would have been yours. But it's too late now, a decision has been made and it would be unfair of me to change it."

"Give me a few days then."

"No."

"Damn you." Kirei smiled to himself as Rin ended the conversation.

"Are you needling people again?" Gilgamesh asked upon emerging from the church's basement. "Given you don't know _who_ most of the Masters are, that's a rather pointless decision you've made."

"I suppose," the priest said carelessly. "Lancer, are you there? Curses, I already sent him out."

"What a priest," the Archer Servant muttered on his way out. "Stealing things, provoking people and now cursing. Respect for the gods and religion sure have fallen far."

* * *

(Rin)

Frustrated, Rin hung up the phone with a bit more force than necessary.

"Does this change your plans?" Kuro asked into the following silence.

"No. Going tonight is a bad idea, everyone might rush here - probably what Kirei wants. Tomorrow morning should be safe, and we can probably disrupt the ritual enough that leaving it be when night arrives is safe. Comparing a magus' work with a Caster, it's possible we'll have it totally dismantled much earlier than that."

"And if that was part of their plan?"

"Ok, let's play this out," Rin said after a moment. "You pretend to be the enemy, preparing for me to arrive."

Kuro nodded. "Well, I have prepared the ground with magecraft, and I'm expecting that will give me the edge in a Servant battle, or perhaps allow me to take you out, is that right?"

"So presumably my Servant, Sasaku starts taking down the focal points, _instead_ of me. Thus, rapidly."

"If it's a Caster then pretty much any Servant should be able to take them on, right?"

"Right. But we've trapped them now, since they won't expect you. If they were planning on a serious fight, their magecraft will be weakened or disabled and it's still two-on-one. But if they think to get an easy kill by luring Sasaku out, then well it's the same situation."


	17. A Night to Remember

**A Night to Remember**

* * *

(Emiya house)

(Shirou)

After hanging up the phone, Shirou looked at Sasaku who turned away to walk back to presumably the guest room where she was 'staying'. A moment later, realizing he was standing still, she motioned for him to follow and he quickly caught up with her.

"Are you doing ok?" he asked when she didn't comment on, well anything really, since she was simply silent. "Since we'll probably be fighting on the same side even tomorrow... er I'll think of something."

"Shirou, I was thinking." She spoke with a light and disconcertingly cheerful tone. "You seem to be misunderstanding multiple things." Rather than going to her own room like he expected, she opened the door to his and pulled him in.

"I thought I locked that?" was all he said in realization of what she had done. "Did you do something to it?"

"That'll be number one. Oh, sit down," she said in response, sitting down next to where he had laid out his futon. "As useful as it might be, and as much as I'd like to, I can't teach you my magecraft."

"I understand," he said, remembering how she had earlier warned him against volunteering any information to Rin or Kuro, as opposed to an exchange. "You have to guard your magecraft."

"Don't interrupt," Sasaku said absentmindedly. "It's a _can't_ problem. The system I use doesn't align with the standard forms. Or rather, as a Servant it basically got shoehorned into a combination of things magi here would call a **Sorcery Attribute** , **Origin** , and **Element** , which I can't pass on to you. There might be ways around it, but the best way would be to get a local magi to teach you."

"You mean Tohsaka."

"Yes, it's to your, our advantage if she thinks you're both useful and _controllable_. Bring it up with her tomorrow when we're going through the school." She nodded in satisfaction as he nodded to make his agreement clear.

"Wait a moment, then **that** earlier was a plan of yours?" She held a hand up to stop his outburst.

"I'm just trying to make the best of a bad situation. Your concern for me is understandable, but seriously, I'm the Servant here so worry more about yourself please."

"That, well... I won't apologize for worrying about your wellbeing. Kuro went too far."

"Really?" she sighed. "The child using a drain skill on me is too far, as opposed to someone trying to _literally_ bind my will? Hey Master, how old _do_ you think I am?"

"Not to be rude but, you're older than even Taiga, right? Since you mentioned it before, I think."

She thought for a moment. "Ok so I've apparently lost a _massive_ amount of memories. Thanks Grail-slash-World, no prizes for guessing why it's all gone."

Shirou blinked as she simply dropped the topic. "More importantly, don't let that girl get her hands on **you**. Because you _can_ die from having all the mana drained from you. Not that she'd intentionally do so, or at least when she can get her hands on me I guess..."

"That doesn't disturb you?"

"I'd be more worried about being accused of cradle-robbing if it wasn't for the fact she clearly enjoys dominating me, and I have no say in it at all."

"That _really_ doesn't disturb you?" Shirou muttered before realizing something. "Sasaku, don't tell me you're actually interested in girls?"

She gave him an incredulous look that summed up her reply before she even gave it. "No. Where did _that_ thought come from?"

"It just seems someone would be upset about something like that." This seemed to tick her off.

"Shirou, you might be old enough to get married, but it's too early for you to learn about what a husband and wife get up to after a few centuries together. For some reason I _do_ remember that... wow whoever made this Grail system has a twisted mind."

 _Somewhere, a certain magician of the Second Magic found his attention drawn to a **particularly interesting** timeline._

"... Anyway, Kuro is really innocent even if she likes acting devilish." Sasaku continued after an odd pause. "What we need to discuss isn't my situation, but yours. With Rin, that is."

"? Eh?! Why?" he exclaimed.

"Basically, she is far too clever for her own good and if she ever has a chance to get at you unsupervised, which is likely, it could ruin everything."

 _While I can definitely see her point,_ "If I acted differently, wouldn't that seem suspicious?"

"Oh, I wasn't being specific, let's say this is more about girls in general, ok? You strike me as someone who would have _women problems_." He had some difficulty seeing how that was though.

"You think Rin's interested in me? She seemed rather unfriendly, though. Or rather scheming might be more accurate."

"That she is, though the first part is more aimed at me. I don't know why, but it turns out well since she decided to use the geas on me instead of you."

"If that's 'well' then you have a way out?"

"Perhaps. You see, the Command Spells you have," she pointed to his hand, which had its markings hidden in some manner of her doing, "is not unlike the ability to give geas-level commands to your Servant."

She paused, but continued quickly as he was about to say something, " As far as I can tell, it's the authority to have the Grail release mana for all manner of effects. For example, send you or me that mana directly, or allow Servants to go past their usual limits, or even other miraculous feats like teleporting. In short, they are really valuable."

"There's a way around them?"

"Think of the command spell or geas as a really hard shove. Servants are quite heavy as it were, so such a command might need a while to take hold. Or it might be outright resisted, or anywhere in between. I'll wager that if you used a command spell to specifically order me to ' **Kill Tohsaka Rin** ', her geas of ' **Do not betray Tohsaka Rin** ' would lose out. Especially if I agreed with you."

"Ah."

"That's why it was a mistake to not use it on you. But she probably didn't consider the possibility of controlling me through you. Anyway that's more of an issue if she becomes suspicious of you."

"I'm listening."

"Basically there's two extremes to be careful of, people who _want to own you_ and people who _want to be owned by you_."

"The second doesn't seem that dangerous though." He wondered how common that type of person was.

"They're probably more dangerous, if only due to being less predictable. Being excessively selfless can cause serious problems, but that's for another day." She shrugged.

"You think Tohsaka wants to own me?"

"She seems like the controlling type, at least. Call it intuition if you must."

"Then, Kuro?"

"That child probably wouldn't mind being your pet, if you ask me. She would love to turn me into her pet though."

 _Pet?_ "I shouldn't have asked..."

* * *

Shirou blinked as he noticed his clock had apparently left his desk and was sitting next to Sasaku. Actually, she was starting to glow, or shimmer. "Is this related?"

"Yes, you remember earlier I said it wasn't possible to teach you my magecraft, but there might be ways around it?"

He nodded after catching on to what she was implying.

"It's time to try them. Wait, let me borrow your healing miracle while we do this, it'll cause problems otherwise."

"Sure," he said. After a moment the glowing object appeared, but unlike before it resolved into a blue-and-gold sheath in her hands before disappearing. "What did you do with it?"

"Just stored it in my Armory so it wouldn't interfere. I'm going to try and stimulate, more like modify, your magical circuits, which it wouldn't allow."

"So, you're saying you can just _make_ me a better magus?"

"Not really, but if you can generate more magical energy, I at least can draw it off and use it. **((Higher Connection))** doesn't have any scaling on it, so I'll have to get creative in order to obtain more energy."

She thought for a moment before continuing, "It will also help increase your resistance to some things, which is more immediately useful if we're going to be fighting in some magus' Bounded Field. There's some other benefits, but since this isn't a certain thing, you're going to have to trust me for now."

"Do I need to do anything specific?"

"Just go to sleep. Like with muscles, the body handles its magical circuits better when you're resting. Hmm, speaking of muscles, you have a pretty nice set huh... maybe I can see why Rin might want to get her hands on you."

"What?"

"Just talking to myself. Try to relax. You've already taken in quite a decent bit of my magical energy that was hanging around in here without adverse effects, so at most this might tickle or something."

"That's not the most reassuring," he yawned. "But at least... gaining some power... would be worth it..."

 _After all, almost all power demands sacrifice. And pain._

* * *

(Sasaku)

"Yeah," she said, noticing he had dropped into sleep right on cue. "Power sure is handy to have."

Sasaku closed her eyes to better analyze on the energies flowing around and through her Master's physical form. Nodding to herself more out of habit than anything, she pulled in a good amount of her Realm and concentrated it around the two of them.

 **Realm locally reconfigured for best use of Origin: Authority (Delegated)**

 **Analysis enough for good resonance with Element: Information (Knowledge)**

 **And enough magical energy to power the use of Sorcery Attribute: Alchemy (Exchange)**

Though it was more of a magical-type surgery than an experiment, she still smiled in the anticipation of learning something new.

 _Right, let's see what upgrades I can buy with this expenditure._

* * *

l

* * *

(The same time, but somewhere else?)

(Shirou)

 _Ah, my head aches again. It feels like I just forgot something. What was it this time?_

Dazedly, I look around the warmly-furnished room, my thoughts seeming to clear up after taking in the familiar scene. _Yes, I was preparing for something._

It's the sensation of a familiar signature, rather than the door soundlessly opening or closing, that finally reminds me _rather, it was **someone**_. He's already halfway to me before it all sinks in.

"?" He looks at me quizzically as I simply stare at him from my place at the foot of our bed. "Is something wrong?" he asks after a moment of this.

"No, I was just thinking... about something, I guess."

"Hmm... I see," he mutters without any actual thought. "It always the past or future with you, and looking like that I'd say past."

"I guess," I reply noncommittally. "I don't remember."

"Yeah, yeah."

Without any warning, he picks me up and lightly tosses me into the middle of the bed. Various pillows go flying into the air as I slam into them, and then again as he pounces on my splayed-out form.

"?" I'm a little confused.

"I'm actually still wondering how you managed to successfully force yourself into forgetting something, but that's not really the problem here."

He cheerfully, or angrily, pins me down for emphasis. "No, I ran back - nothing happening at the Office obviously - and you're just zoning out about something you've **literally** forced yourself to forget? I'm just a _little_ annoyed by that."

"Oh?" I'm just smiling while looking into his eyes. _I wonder what he's up to?_

"Ah whatever," he mutters flippantly. His demeanor changes as he settles himself between my legs. "I'm just going to add more stuff to you that you _won't_ forget. Physically, of course."

His grin is quite winning, if rather out of place. "And how long did it take to come up with that?"

"I didn't, it was spontaneous like _you_ said to before."

"It was more of a joke," I replied quite seriously. He just nods while rolling up the hem of my nightgown to keep it out of the way. "Should I take that off?"

"Nah, maybe later."

"... I don't know how I'd live without you," I say a bit later as he pulls away to undress.

"It's a good thing I both don't plan to die, and am immortal," my husband comments wryly. "But I already know that even if you somehow managed to off yourself... what am I even saying."

"Ha ha," I laugh as he finishes and returns to me, abandoning his previous line of thought. "Come over here. _Dar~ling~_ "

 ** _Wait a minute._**

* * *

l

* * *

"What the-!"

Shirou practically jumped out of his futon upon waking up, tripped on the blankets, and fell on Sasaku who was sitting just a short distance away.

"Huh?" Being a Servant, she had no issues catching and then depositing him back where he had been sleeping.

"Are you alright? Does it hurt anywhere?" she asked with some concern. Doubly because she hadn't sensed anything going wrong.

"Uh, ah... oh, it was just a dream," Shirou muttered to himself after looking over his body. "Phew."

"O...k...?"

* * *

l

* * *

 _Notes:_  
 _Sasaku's Realm is basically a modified version of what you get from the Caster class skill **Territory Creation** (see **Temple Creation** , **Workshop Creation** etc)._


	18. Morning After

**The Morning After**

* * *

(Shirou)

 _Damnit._

Shirou frowned as ate his Servant's breakfast. It wasn't that the omelet and greens tasted bad, though the really light and fluffy eggs weren't quite what he usually associated with the dish. Rather, the reversal of the usual morning routine brought to mind **that**.

The palpable sense of despair that had caused Sasaku much concern earlier was not due to Rin, or Kuro's actions but rather...

 _That wasn't the knowledge I really need at the moment.  
_

Even realizing what was amiss, and thus the fact it was a dream of some sort, did not allow him to escape. _Though I can see why Sasaku got starry-eyed talking about her husband_.And though he was _fairly_ sure that was actually part of the dream rather than his own evaluation, it still troubled him.

While literally burning to death, at some point the brain just stopped caring, but apparently experiencing someone else's memories didn't have that 'issue'. Honestly, he was both relieved, but also disturbingly confused to be back in a male, which is to say his body upon waking up.

 _This must be due to her tinkering._

"Bah," he almost choked on the totally inoffensive egg dish and quickly grabbed some tea. Sasaku looked up from her meal, doubtless wondering if he really was unharmed by her experimentation.

His mind was hurriedly working to forget everything, but... there was no guarantee that it wouldn't happen again. Especially if it was linked to Sasaku's work, since he really did want any bit of power possible for the War.

 _Or perhaps I'm not that upset about it?_ There was some sort of scraping sound as his mind tried to purge the stray thought.

 _I just have to keep telling myself it isn't **my** memories._

 _Wait, that was an actual sound!_

It was the sound of Sasaku roughly pushing her chair back as she looked at the main entrance with a raised hand. As Shirou looked curiously at her pose, a while later the doorbell rang.

"It's Rin." She said in a tone that was all business. He in turn glanced at the clock before replying, "Right on time too."

"Come in, it's open!"

* * *

As Rin hungrily devoured the food set before her, Kuro looked at their host with some worry. "Did you not get enough sleep last night?" she asked innocently.

"Something like that," he muttered darkly.

"There's no real need to worry," Rin said confidently, taking a sip of tea. "Sasaku, do you have any coffee?"

"I can have some ready in a couple of minutes," the girl replied in a soft voice, receiving a nod in return.

Shirou suddenly realized that his Servant wasn't weak to other girls or perhaps just aggressive people like he had thought earlier. Rather, she just enjoyed acting submissive even if she was plotting against the person in question. _I guess I can understand that._

He coughed and tried to ignore the intruding thought that didn't belong. "I think I'll have some too, if you don't mind."

* * *

(After discussing the plan, on the way to their school)

" _Sasaku, do you have any plans if we do encounter an enemy? Not that Kuro lacks skill, I'm sure, but another Knight or say a Berserker would be problematic, right?_ "

" _I don't have anything prepared that would work outside of my Realm, so there's no choice. If it comes to it, run._ "

" _I won't just leave you to die. In any case I would die soon after as a Servant would easily catch me, you know._ "

" _I meant use a Command Spell to allow the two of us to teleport back. If the enemy still chases us there, I'll be ready._ "

" _Oh. I forgot they had that use._ "

" _Master, even if I lack a hardwired instinct, I have plenty of reasons to continue existing. And even if one might have ways around it, being blase or cavalier about your own death tends to prevent that. Living, I mean._ "

" _I see... wait, you have a way around dying?_ "

" _Only a maybe. But it definitely won't work if you yourself die or otherwise become ineligible to be a Master before I return. Or any number of other things that will cause me to stay 100-percent dead._ "

" _Hm._ "

* * *

Their first stop was the Archery club. Shirou looked about but didn't see Sakura there, which was a bit unusual as the other club members were already in the middle of practice.

The captain Mitsuzuri Ayako's eagle eyes immediately spotted her two friends and the talked-about new arrival. She immediately made her way over the trio who were looking about. "Emiya-kun, are you here to watch the practice? Tohsaka... what a surprise. " She grinned suddenly. "Oh, perhaps I'm interrupting someth-"

"I'm with Emiya- **chan** ," the other student replied a touch hastily.

"Hm, hm, hm," she said teasingly. "Well Emiya-chan is much cuter I suppose. Have you ever shot a bow?" Rin spluttered impotently at the comment her friend had snuck in just to poke her.

"I'm not very good at it, I don't prefer bows," the addressed girl said after a moment.

"Oh, so you do shoot then? What do they shoot out west?" Ayako continued, her interest piqued by the odd response.

" **Arbalest**." (Sasaku just said it in English)

"Huh, what's an _Aru-Ba-Res-Tu_?" She didn't understand the odd term used.

"It's a... crossbow," Shirou explained after asking and receiving an answer mentally from Sasaku.

"Oh. Would you like to try one of the bows here? They're different from the Western ones, maybe they'll fit you better?" offered the captain.

"It's ok, Shirou-nii was just taking me around to lo-"

"Give it a try," Rin suddenly spoke up. "I wonder what you'll look like as an _Archer_."

Shirou, Sasaku, and probably Kuro who was in spirit form nearby all gave her immediate frowns, which they removed before anyone else caught on.

* * *

With a bow in hand and arrow nocked, Sasaku experimentally drew the small bow she had been given. Rin was grinning, probably at the thought that, as a Servant, Sasaku could probably pull bows that no one else in the room could, except for Kuro of course.

 _*thwip*_

 _*thud*_

 _*plonk*_

Sasaku's shot went fairly wide. The arrow tumbled inelegantly towards the target, struck it near the edge and then spinning fell onto the ground rather than sticking in.

"Oh." was all Ayako said in response. She wasn't sure if simply hitting the target at all was impressive. Perhaps not if the small girl had any actual practice in the past. "I guess it _would_ have a different balance than what you're used to."

With that, Shirou quickly led his two followers away. Neither had noticed anything magical in nature in the room, so there was no need to stay any longer.

* * *

" _Can you really not use an eastern-styled bow?_ "

" _Wouldn't it be odder if I could?_ "

" _...so you can, then._ "

" _Don't be so surprised, bows are somewhat easier than martial arts where you duel directly. Targets don't try to parry and riposte your shot._ "

" _I see._ "

* * *

l

* * *

"Yeah, there's a focal point up there," Sasaku said, pointing to an area on the wall a little above the top of the blackboard. "Can you give me a hand?"

"Uh, what?" Shirou said in confusion, while Rin glanced at the spot and nodded.

"Hold me up," she explained, looking at the door behind him, which was closed. "My Realm doesn't extend much beyond my actual body like this, so it would help to be able to actually touch the area."

"They must be pretty tall," Rin commented, as Shirou lifted his Servant up easily, who in turn extended a hand and tapped the wall. Her eyes narrowed almost immediately. "Wait a moment, what did you do?"

"Broke it down into magical energy and absorbed it."

"Instantly? I... guess you are a Caster," she muttered. "Well, can you tell what it's supposed to do?"

"It's only part of a larger whole, perhaps if I disassemble a few more, I will have enough information for an accurate guess."

* * *

l

* * *

"How odd to see you here," Issei commented upon seeing Rin in Shirou's little group. His raised eyebrow said to his fellow male _Do you need some help?_

"Just taking a tour of the clubs meeting on Saturday," Shirou replied with a shrug that said _Nah, I got it under control._ " Some student council business to take care of?

"Nothing major, I just felt like getting out rather than watch nii-san fistfight some strange foreign woman who's been hanging around the temple."

"Kuzuki-sensei does martial arts?" Rin interjected suddenly. "Wait, he's trading punches with a woman?"

"I guess," Issei said flippantly while walking away. "See you around, I could always use your help when you're free." _I really hope you know what you're getting into._

* * *

l

* * *

After that, they visited several other clubs and ducked into unused classrooms. Shirou noticed that Caster or not, Rin actually seemed to have a better range in terms of detecting the enemy magus' work than Sasaku did. The latter put it down to -all the magical energy in this place being foreign-. That said, Rin was not really able to take apart the magical circles, which she said were unrecognizable to her, though that could be simply due to the usual secrecy of magi.

Just out of curiosity, Shirou visited the Archery club a few more times, but Sakura seemed to have been staying at home for the whole day, which he found odd. This didn't go unnoticed by Rin, though she didn't comment on it.

Sometime in the early afternoon, they finished the daytime portion of the operation some hours earlier than Rin had estimated for a complete sweep of the accessible areas. As a result, they decided to leave and return later. Rin suggested late in the night, to avoid the risk of running into anyone who might be there in the evening.

(Later, at an eatery in the shopping center)

"After all, at this rate, there's no real time pressure. We should be able to remove everything well before the sun rises even if we return only after darkness has set in."

Kuro simply nodded, thinking about what desert to get afterwards - because Shirou was paying. Based on what she had seen at the Tohsaka house, the Emiya family probably had more wealth, which was ironic given how much Rin chased the resources needed for her brand of magecraft.

"Hello nee-san, it's good to see you."

All four present turned as one to see the short blond-haired boy who had boldly walked to their table and addressed Sasaku. They also stiffened upon realizing he was a Servant.

"Um yes. It's a surprise to meet you here," Sasaku said in her usual soft manner. "Is something interesting going on?"

"Nee-san must feel like quite the **foreigner** if your first thought is to eat the western food here," the boy Servant said, immediately catching her sharp attention, a fact which he did not miss.

"Y-yes," she replied, unease creeping into her voice and coloring each word that followed. "I'm visiting family."

"Hmm, I don't doubt that," he said, clearly doubting that. "Bit far away from home though."

"The world is small nowadays, isn't it?" she muttered, trying to inject a bit of lightness that fooled no one listening.

"It sure is," he sighed, before turning to Kuro, who shrank back a bit against Rin in response. "Einzbern-chan, was it?"

Shirou and Rin both blinked, though only the latter actually knew the name. Kuro just nodded silently, which seemed to satisfy him. "Your family's reputation precedes you. Well, have a good day."

He left without speaking a word to the two Masters.

Shirou glanced at Sasaku, who was rather fearfully watching the boy's retreating back." _Who was that?_ "

" _I don't know, but... I hope we don't have to fight him._ "

" _Any other magi around?_ "

" _...not that I can tell._ "

"Well," said Rin after a moment while getting up. "Kuro and I will drop by for _dinner_ , sound good?"

Shirou nodded. About the time they finished it should be getting dark, and then they'd move onto the school. As a bonus, Taiga was unlikely to appear then if she hadn't already. Though if she did, that might be for the best as they could 'handle' her and not have the uncertainty of a visit when they were not around to do so.

* * *

(Later on, Emiya house)

Besides, Issei, most of the other boys they encountered on their school 'tour' appeared envious or disapproving, depending on who specifically it was that spotted the two Masters and one Servant at their secret task. There were a few who were with Issei in being suspicious of Rin, which by this point, Shirou thoroughly understood.

 _But it doesn't help to give me that 'that poor fool is going to get used by Tohsaka' look, I **already know** it!_

"Hey, Sasaku," he said, trying to get his mind off the matter. "Why **did** you say something about being married in front of our classmates?"

According to Rin, who had heard it from Kuro, who had been eavesdropping in spirit form, the female half who were _in on_ the gossip were rather evenly divided on who was trying to manipulate who. Of course, even if they thought Sasaku was the plotting one (due to Shirou's own rather good reputation), many still supported her anyway.

Sort of, it was complicated and Rin didn't want to explain.

"There was no way it would ever _not_ cause complications, right?"

"Um, that's true," she said after a moment of pressure-by-silence. "It reminded me too much of chats with my seers about things like that: romance, men, love, you know. The usual."

 _Didn't you say something twice there? No wait, let's not think about **that** right now._

"You had... seers?" He wasn't quite sure what that term meant.

"Prophetesses, priestesses? How would you translate it?"

"You kept company with a bunch of _shrine maidens_?" He didn't remember seeing any in the temple Issei lived at, which instead had rather sturdy monks who knew a lot about enlightenment, or so on. He was a bad listener when younger.

"Eh, they were my servants."

"Eh?"

"Didn't I mention it before?" She shrugged, not seeing the import of her statement.

"Well, erm, you said you were some sort of divine being, but I thought you also mentioned that animals existed with more divinity than you, not that you had worshipers."

She blinked as though he had said something monumentally stupid. _Or insulting._ "No they are literally only my servants, they don't worship me."

After a pause, Sasaku continued with a more lecturing tone, "The reason I have the attribute at all is probably just a quirk of the system. I'm not only a foreigner here, but I'm myself a servant."

"Oh. Sorry if it's a touchy subject."

"I'm more like a governor anyway, why else do you think so much got tied to the Realm we're sitting in?" She waved a hand about in the air.

It was at her insistence that he had been going to school on time rather than early, and leaving rather than helping around. Well, it was necessary anyway, since otherwise energy supply would become a serious issue due to the resulting down-scaling on her **((Higher Connection))**.

Which they had thankfully been able to keep from Rin by simply arguing that Sasaku's bounded field (Realm) was collecting ambient energy. Which is was, just nowhere near what her skill generated under the right conditions. They hadn't been able, though, to prevent the greedy magus from constantly taking from it whenever she was around.

"You're immortal though?" He remembered her husband saying he was in the dream.

"All Servants are I think, unless we get killed or run out of magical energy." Being a Servant seemed pretty decent, the whole starving to death without mana or having your supply able to force commands on you aside. _Actually, those are pretty big drawbacks._

"I meant in your original form, from everything."

"Hmm yeah. Well I can probably be killed, but I won't stay dead if my Owner decides to bring me back."

Shirou suddenly had a flash of insight. "So, that's how your 'way around' dying works."

"It won't bloody work if you're dead or don't count as a Master anymore, I'm sure of that. The description the Grail gave me isn't very dependable."

"Can I ask what it is?" This might be important. _Also, I see why she decided to ask Rin to protect me if she died._

" **Return after a delay of several days, even after being defeated, to a suitable anchor (Master) via repeat-summoning process. Certain manners of death may further delay or inhibit triggering."**

"Umm, it's probably related to the **((Battle Continuation))** skill, since the Grail called it **((War Continuation))** Well a bunch of my skills seem to just be like that."

"It doesn't say what _suitable_ or _certain_ are, huh."

"Yes."


	19. Sun at Midnight (Battle)

**Sun at Midnight (Battle)**

* * *

(Emiya house, after dinner)

(Rin)

Rin was the first one to shift from 'mealtime' to 'War preparation' mode. "Sasaku, do you have anything to use in a battle?"

"Besides the sword and spear," Kuro added dryly. "Do you do something like beams or orbs or something?"

"Nothing that would get past a decent level of Magic Resistance," Sasaku said after a moment. "I can take out weapons that will, er, I can throw them is the best way to explain it."

"So, you have more swords and spears, for throwing," Rin said incredulously. "So we have an Archer who throws swords as her special attack, and a caster who throws swords as her special attack."

"I **do** have a bow, you know," Kuro jumped in. "It shoots Noble Phantasms."

"Are they... swords?"

"Sorta."

Shirou looked at the group in confusion. "Why does it matter what weapon type they are?"

"No, that's not the issue. Clearly Sasaku can't use her attacks at close range though. It's pretty obvious..." She remembered that Sasaku had used a couple of low-powered beams, but not anything else when fighting Kuro.

The Servant just nodded, acknowledging her point. So she continued, "Why is that?"

"The world is slow to recognize that the weapons exist, by the time it catches up, they have already 'moved,' and it simply ignores anything they would have collided. In short, the faster I throw it, the greater the minimum distance."

"Well that's rather useless," Rin muttered, thinking quickly. "In that case, if we're attacked then Kuro will try to ambush them from spirit form, and you'll try to break off and gain range. If they follow, then you," she indicated Kuro here, "will shoot them in the back."

"Sounds like you're leaving all the work to me," the Archer groused. "And that means a lot of mana expenditure..." Sasaku flushed a cute shade of pink. "Actually, how many weapons can you throw at once?"

"Hmm," she mused. "Maybe a hundred? In a volley." Rin and Kuro blinked in surprise.

"That's... a lot, yeah." Rin said, recovering first. "Shirou, you don't seem overly surprised by that."

"Oh, Sasaku's Ar-" he started to explain, but was cut off by a sudden mental " _Shh"_. Rin didn't miss the capital in that - _so it's a skill of hers, or perhaps her Noble Phantasm is a weird type, rather than a straight sorcery or spell_.

"Look," Sasaku said finally, "I happen to possess a large, very large, number of t _otally mundane_ weapons. That's why, unlike Kuro's swords, the world doesn't exact a horrible cost when I take out a hundred of them - because they could exist in an armory, in like ancient Greece."

"So couldn't you just shoot a wall, but really slowly, at someone chasing you?"

"No, because if we're both in motion, they'll be past the wall before it became solid."

Shirou realized something about the new detail. "Ancient Greece? Like hoplites?"

"Yes, it's full of _dory_ (spears)."

"It's fine," Kuro said after another pause. "I have confidence in my selection of Noble Phantasms, provided there's no problems with mana supply."

"So you have several? That's impressive," Shirou said in admiration. Kuro beamed at the praise.

"They still have a full, or rather increased mana use so... I'll be replying on your Caster for help, ok?" It was a more devilish grin at this point. Shirou sighed in exasperation, but didn't say anything.

" _I hope you're not going to give away anything critical,_ " Rin sent in some annoyance.

" _Even for a Caster, replicating this technique would be impossible._ "

"It's dark out, we should be good to move on now." Rin concluded.

* * *

l

* * *

(Rin)

"We'll probably be watched once we're in range for scrying or other such magecraft," Rin had warned the group. As a result, when they reached the school gates, everyone kept quiet.

After watching Rin try to open the lock without breaking it in the process, Sasaku stepped up and closed a hand around it, prompting the magus to move away. A moment later, Sasaku removed her hand to reveal an open lock.

The three of them, and Kuro in spirit form, filed in before Shirou re-locked the gate behind them. Rin pointed to the main school building, and they began heading there. However, while they were about half-way through the courtyard, a sudden oppressive atmosphere filled the air. No, rather it was-

"That Field was still usable?" Rin muttered as Sasaku immediately grabbed a suddenly-staggering Shirou's hand to steady him. "What did you say it did again?" she whispered to the Servant.

"It absorbs ambient mana, or so I thought," she replied, before correcting herself with the addition of, "but apparently it does so **really** aggressively."

"We're about to be attacked," Kuro said while suddenly appearing with an outstretched hand. Everyone looked upwards to the tall figure on the school roof in silence as she whipped out a dagger with trailing chains and thrust herself through the neck.

A flash marked the formation of a ritual circle of some sort as the enemy Servant began their ambush.

* * *

(Shirou)

The sensation of having all the breath sucked out of him lessened slightly as Sasaku attempted to extend her Realm into him as a countermeasure against the draining Field.

Like the sun at noon, the bright form a winged horse rising elegantly into the night sky shone down upon the four figures down far below in the open courtyard. Shirou heard Rin and Sasaku say at the same instant, "Pegasus?"

"I thought Kotomine said Rider was dead?" Kuro asked as her earlier-mentioned bow appeared. She flicked a hand to the side as a long war arrow appeared to fill it, which she nocked.

"Apparently, he was wrong," her Master replied dryly, taking out a couple of mana-charged jewels. The two of them watched as Kuro loosed an arrow, which reached out to the flying figure but was deflected by the mana coming off it, which served as a defense.

A moment later, a handful of spears shimmered up, solidifying just in time to be annihilated at a decent distance from the pegasus.

Kuro paused to think as her empty hand took hold of a twisted sword. The pegasus-riding Servant paused its ascent, the pair turning in preparation for a dive.

" _I am.. the bone of my sword,_ " she muttered as the weapon stretched and twisted upon itself to transform into a massive arrow. Nocking it, she raised her bow and waited for Rider to commit to the charge.

Like a bird swooping down on a worm, the pegasus began it's dive. Kuro and Sasaku were able to hear the Servant riding it call out their Noble Phantasm, " **Bellerophon!** " before the the magical comet began picking up speed in earnest, with an accompanying roar of rushing winds forced out of the way.

" **Caladbolg!** "

The sword-arrow flashed upwards, glowing with the intent to punch through the enemy's defense and take them out. The needle sliced towards the descending sun-"

 _ ***Boom***_

The collision of the two shook the ground and nearby buildings, but hardly did anything against the still-charging enemy. Kuro groaned upon realizing her attack had at best offset a small portion of the energy still heading for them.

"Do you have any defensive Noble Phantasms?" Rin was asking her Archer, who nodded and raised her empty left hand towards the enemy. "I'll boost you, do it!"

" _Trace on..._ **Rho Aias!** "

A massive shield of four pink-pink petals appeared between the ground and sky, calmly standing ready against Rider.

"Servant Archer, by my Command Spell, defend against Rider's Noble Phantasm!"

Declaring thus, Rin watched as one of her Command Seals fade from red to a dull gray. As if in response, Kuro's shield became thicker and more opaque, partially blocking out the blinding phantasmal beast approaching.

* * *

Sasaku was muttering something in a language her Master couldn't understand, though he could tell from the way she laid her hands on Kuro's shoulders that it was some sort of defensive ability.

" _The jeweled foundation stones,_  
 _The wall of precious metals,_  
 _The towers of choice crystals,_  
 _The rainbow shining phalanx,_  
 ** _Thousand Layered Shields!_** "

Several dozen copies of Kuro's first, pale, shield flashed into existence around them, with most of the shields shifting to center on the path of the oncoming attack. A moment later, everything came to a head.

The sound of Sasaku's shields shattering the moment the pegasus's brilliance came into contact with them could barely be heard over the roar of Noble Phantasms smashing against one another. A wave of mana washed all around them.

"... _That won't hold,_ " Sasaku sent telepathically, with a hint of panic. " _I maxed out at about half of Kuro's base shield, so I'm pretty sure._ "

" _Even with a Command Spell?_ "

"-Rider was fully prepared for this, the energy amounts are too disparate.-"

Shirou took only a moment to decide on a course of action. As Sasaku had told him earlier, Rin's plan had multiple gaps in it. He thought about what the magus had said earlier.

" _Servant Caster, by my Command Spell, bring us back home immediately!_ "

Sasaku's grip on his hand tightened. With a snap of her fingers, a flash of light shot out backwards, towards the school gate. Though blinding in its own right, it was not even a pinprick compared to Rider's luminescence. However, it succeeded in its aim, creating a tiny breach in Rider's **Bloodfort Andromeda**. Though much smaller than a person, it, along with the Command Spell was enough.

Shirou and Sasaku disappeared just before the pegasus and Rho Aias collided. The temporary gap closed behind them as Kuro shield began to creak ominously.


	20. Knight vs Cavalry (Battle, pt 2)

**Knight vs Cavalry (Battle, pt 2)**

* * *

(Kuro)

Whatever Sasaku had done, the Caster's Rho Aiases hardly did anything to blunt the driving momentum of Rider's pegasus. Just as Kuro's own was beginning to crack, abruptly the pressure ceased, though the damage done due to the shield Noble Phantasm's troublesome feedback remained.

The sight of a pegasus taking to the sky, seen though the shivered petals that remained was only a brief reprive as a sound from above triggered Kuro's battle instinct. She moved backwards, releasing her shield. Just in time, as Rider, who had dismounted and landed on the top of the shield just out of sight, had sent one of her daggers straight downwards at the shield's owner.

As her enemy started to fall, Kuro quickly summoned and began throwing swords into the path she would take to the ground. However, Rider yanked hard on the chain linked to the dagger now planted in the stones of the courtyard, accelerating her downward motion to avoid the missiles.

Quickly moving through a mental list of Noble Phantasms didn't bring anything to mind. Another flurry of paired swords were scattered by a near-net of chains flying about as Rider's defense. A pair of daggers came back even quicker, and Kuro stepped back while parrying to gain some range and suddenly tripped!

No, she adjusted quickly into a backflip and kept her eyes on Rider while also scanning the ground to see what had been in the way-

Her heart sank when she realized the obstacle had been Rin's prone form, clearly unconscious with blood leaking from her ears. In hindsight, it was obvious what had happened. Even with a Reinforced body, the sharp change in both air pressure and mana density that close to the pegasus, even from behind Rho Aias, would have been enough to knock her out. And now her Master was between the two battling Servants.

 _Nothing for it._

Rider might have been caught off guard, at least initially, as Kuro flung herself forward much faster than her earlier retreat, sending more swords straight at her as well as curving around. However, ...

* * *

(Medusa)

After trying to get some range, the small Archer suddenly reversed course and charged forward - or perhaps that was the plan? By now quite acquainted with the odd motion of these thrown weapons, Medusa simply swung her weapons around, sending the long chains into the path of the black and white swords.

If Archer preferred short range over medium, Rider had the opposite preference. Both Servants could attack capably at medium range, but Medusa's weapons were much less well suited for a direct hand-to-hand action than Archer's dual shortswords. Also, they weren't Noble Phantasms and would stand up in a direct clash, which is why parrying with the chains was much better.

With the usual speed of the Rider class, she dashed forward as well, intending to use Archer's momentum against her. By moving sideways at the last moment, range would be generated by the time both of them were able to slow down and turn to face one another.

 _But the girl suddenly disappeared just as I began accelerating?_

Whipping her daggers around so that the chains closed in, filling the space around her, Medusa continued rather than reversed her course. Suddenly she _felt_ one of the daggers pierce something behind her. -When did she get behind me?-

She turned, still sprinting forward to see Archer on the ground holding her side. Which had one of the chained daggers embedded in it. Then the Servant disappeared in a shimmer of gold.

"Hmm, even so."

Medusa looked at the human lying near her feet, most probably the reason why Archer simply gave up on the fight. It seemed that Sakura would find something to be pleased about tonight.

* * *

(Cu Chulainn)

 _Even as a Lancer (my favorite class to be summoned as), I have some handy skill in rune magecraft. But that doesn't mean I can deal with a Caster's Bounded Field, damnit!_

Cu Chulainn groused while walking along the boundary of the field that appeared around the school. Attempting several attacks with Gae Bolg, as well as using various runic counters was not enough to undo the barrier, though he doubted it was only a wall. While the priest had expected it to be a quick job, Lancer couldn't find any obvious cracks or foci to disrupt, which probably meant it was supplied from within.

 _Probably using the leylines under the school grounds?_

He felt his hairs rise as the field disappeared, the prana that had been within starting to dissipate. A Servant jumped over the school gate, with a girl held carefully in her arms. Lancer prepared himself for a fight, though it seemed unlikely.

"Hello there!" he said, cheerfully announcing his presence by tapping his spear aginst the ground. As the purple-haired woman turned to face him, he noticed the odd blindfold she was wearing. "What is it, Lancer?"

"If you'd be kind enough to confirm for me that the field that was there," he pointed behind her, "is gone, then I'd appreciate you saving me the trouble of having to investigate it."

"So your Master can take credit for it?" she replied sarcastically. "It's gone, but I doubt the Overseer will believe you had a hand in it without details. Which I won't be giving you for free."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Cu Chulainn smiled cheerfully. "I just want to report this task done and then look for some fights. Speaking of fights -"

"This isn't the time for a duel," she interrupted him. "We can have a one-on-one deathmatch at another date."

"It's a deal!" he shouted as she quickly made an exit.

 _He's going to be quite miffed_ Lancer thought to himself. He had recognized the unconscious Master, in part because he was sure Kirei had sent him out hoping that before the night ended, Tohsaka Rin would have.

 _It's not my problem,_ he shrugged before making haste to the church. Who knows, along the way he might meet that crazy Assassin and her Master again.

* * *

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* * *

(Matou house, Sakura)

Judging by the footsteps coming up the stairs, Shinji both had his battle and won it. Not long after, the person himself burst into her room to find the owner already waiting for him. She said nothing though - this was his moment, after all...

"Part 1 done!" he announced enthusiastically, his voice bouncing around the small room. "And... optional objective **complete**." He stepped away from the door.

"Rider, please show our guest in." _Oh, had he really?_

The Servant who entered after being called was impressive as always, but Sakura's attention was immediately caught by the red-and-black dressed girl she was holding.

"She's a little, er, indisposed at the moment," Shinji muttered with a rather subdued tone after taking a look at Sakura's face. "Rider used up quite a bit of mana in the fight, so she... well, you can guess."

"That's fine, that's fine," she said with a smile pushing its way out, unnoticed. "There'll be plenty of time to _catch up_."

"Right, of course," he said, regaining his usual swagger. "Reunion aside,"

"It's not really a reunion..."

"Whatever you say. More seriously, we encountered **two** Servants tonight. That Sasaku is not Tohsaka's Servant." He just left that hanging in the air rather than spell it out directly.

 _No. Way._ "Emiya-senpai can't be a Master, he isn't even a magus," she said more to reassure herself than anything. Though the evidence was...

"Hello, I'm right here, you know," Rider's other Master said sourly. "This was not part of the agreement, you know."

"So?" she practically snapped while sweating. "Don't tell me you can't take on the 'Janitor' one-on-one after winning two-on-one..." _He wouldn't be like this **if** he had already killed him, surely._

"We're certain Sasaku is this War's Caster, probably why they were working with Tohsaka and her Archer. We're going to visit Emiya's house to _collect_ him. But I need you to understand that it might get messy."

"I can guess," she continued his thought for him. "I'm sure that with your leadership, Rider will have no issues dealing with a single Caster."

Shinji responded well to having his ego stroked, as always. "Of course. Rider wanted to discuss Tohsaka's _accommodations_ before we left. Hurry it up though, the faster we leave the faster this mess gets wrapped up."

* * *

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* * *

l  
 _Notes:_  
That wraps up roughly the first arc.


	21. Interlude of Rejoicing

_A couple of stories that didn't fit neatly in the events thus far._

* * *

l

* * *

 **An Answered Prayer?**

* * *

(Several Days before the "official" start of the Holy Grail War)

(Fuyuki Church)

(Matou Sakura)

"Rejoice, girl." The priest said from behind the girl who was about to exit Fuyuki's church, as though their earlier conversation had not ended. "Your wish will, at last, come true."

She paused at the door as he continued, "After all, is it not written to _proclaim release to the captive_?"

Her soft footsteps away was more of a rejection than any scoffing.

It was only later that night that she discovered the Grail's Command Seals on her left hand. She cried.

 _I had hoped that grandfather would be the one it picked._

From the door of her room, Shinji looked upon the figure of his adopted sister. "There's another way, **if** you're willing to break the rules..."

She would not meet the friendly priest again for some time, but that's another story...

* * *

(Kotomine Kirei)

"What is this now?" Gilgamesh commented, appearing from the door to the church's basement childcare. He glanced through the open doors to the outside and spotted the figure of the church's leaving visitor. "Dragging in _more_ children for your obscene diversions?"

"Do you know something I don't?" asked the Servant's second Master, thinking of the call he had received earlier in the day from Germany. He hoped their newest fixer was, if perhaps not as frighteningly competent, more dependable than their _last_ hire. It seemed that this Grail War would be the last "open" one if the Einzbern family had anything to say about it.

"Oh? Aren't you the overseer?" he replied. "Maybe the Grail just doesn't like you enough to tell you?"

"He who desires to save his life..." Kirei said, more to himself than to his long-time conversation partner. "If she is freed when I kill that _worm_ Zoken, all the better to spite him. But I wonder if she even desires to live herself."

"But for a good man, one might dare to die? That girl's already all wrong, ah..." Gilgamesh paused dramatically in the middle of needling the priest. "You're wondering how she'll react when you kill that Emiya."

"It's just a job. If it wasn't for that name he picked up, _this_ Emiya would be of no interest to magi or the Church."

"Hmph." Gilgamesh turned around as his name was called from further within. "Both of those treat the Grail system as some sort of toy. You should know better."

"I do. With all my heart."

* * *

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* * *

 **Exquisite cuisine**

* * *

(Late afternoon of Day 4, before the battle at the school)

(Fuyuki shopping district)

(Shirou)

A Master hesitated upon seeing the War's overseer seated at the restaurant within, the priest in turn immediately noticing him _because_ he had stopped abruptly at the door.

He didn't know the man, but Fuyuki had only one priest that he knew of, and Rin had told him to stay away in order to avoid detection. At the same time, as Sasaku pushed her way past him, he noticed not one but two bowls of a particular dish the magus had _also_ warned him about. Kirei saw the subject of his attention.

"Rejoice, boy." He announced with some relish in his voice that did not show in his strangely quit eyes. "You have found the site of one of, no my only favorite dish. Come. Sit down. Taste and see that it is _very_ good."

Seeing as they had already been spotted, Sasaku boldly took a seat in the crowded place, sitting down next to Kirei. After a moment, Shirou joined her.

Kirei who had by then resumed eating his brilliantly red dish, paused to look at his two fellow customers. "You really should try the mapo tofu."

 _" **Mapo tofu!** "_Rin had cursed the dish in great deal, while eating Shirou's cooking, ranting about how her guardian could never the trusted to deal with food without trying to 'murder' her with the spicy dish.

"I think... I will go for something more traditional," Shirou said quickly, causing the priest to sigh in disappointment and take another mouthful of his meal to console himself with its fiery bite.

"Oh that?" the cook said, after hearing the boy's order. "That's quite a common favorite. What about your lady friend?"

"I'll have what he is," Sasaku said brightly, indicating Kirei's choice. The man smiled thinly to himself in amusement as his favorite chef blinked in surprise before responding with "That's the _special_ version."

"Sounds great!"

"I'll cover her meal," Kirei said suddenly. "Well, if she finishes it. Wasting such a feast would be a sin."

Shirou, over his own meal, looked suspiciously as his Servant took a small spoonful from a bowl that indeed matched what Kirei had been eating. The magi and priest both waited for her reaction.

"Hmm..." she murmured, taking another bite before commenting. "A powerfully spiced flavor." A few mouthfuls later, "Sharp, no compromises or dilution of the heat."

Giving in to his curiosity, Shirou reached out a spoon to Sasaku's bowl. She moved it towards him so he could 'sneak' a bite.

He promptly choked and spluttered as soon as it touched his tongue. Kirei looked extremely amused.

* * *

(Kirei)

Kirei watched as Shirou and the Servant left. He thought for a moment before asking for the bowl next to him to be boxed up. Gilgamesh had taken the first excuse to run away from his hated dish, but of course when he returned later on, Kirei intended to ensure he be would having it for dinner.

He thought to himself about what Gilgamesh had said to him before. Could it be that he really hated someone for the sins of their father? Even with such a tenuous parent-child relationship?

 _No, each one should die for their **own** sins, after all._

Or perhaps it was indeed that, after hearing about him through the Matou girl, he was just _very_ curious about what might happen to her if, no when, the Einzbern cleaner mopped him up. It was always possible to fall into deeper hells of despair...

Though if he had a Servant - certainly there were some ways but he wasn't a magus who could use them, so what exactly was going on?


	22. Not Really a Reunion (Arc 2 Start)

**Not Really a Reunion**

* * *

(Matou House)

(Rin)

"Are you awake?"

 _Ah, it's that dream again._ A familiar memory of long ago, when times were simpler.

"Nee-san, you are awake right? Don't pretend."

A time before they were seper- _Wait, what?_

Rin's eyes snapped open, not to the sight of her room in the Tohsaka house, but somewhere not too far either, physically at least.

"That's good," the girl sitting on the ground in front of her, legs to one side, said softly as their eyes met. "I was about to get a little... angry."

Her first impulse was to **move** , towards or away from Sakura she didn't know, but it didn't matter because she couldn't. A quick glance to the side showed she hadn't just been sitting in the room's only chair, but had been _tied_ to it. Resting on her hand, covering the Command Seal markings was a purple _blindfold_?!

"Do you remember now?" Sakura asked, watching her with great interest.

"Rider..." the magus muttered, before realizing that besides the blindfold, the two of them were sitting in a Bounded Field _like that in the school_!

"Sakura, we have to get out of here," she said in a panic. If what Sasaku had said was right, this wan't just a Field that absorbed magical energy, but one that rose to the level of being a Drain attack.

"Untie me and I'll..." _Do what exactly?_ Even if Sasaku could break apart the focal points nearly instantly, she was a Caster and not being drained while doing so.

"You misunderstand," Sakura replied while standing up and patting Rin's head with a mocking sense of sympathy. "Rider **and** I constructed this."

Then she understood why the Matou was totally at ease.

"You're the only prisoner here."

" _Kuro, what happened? Where are you?_ " She couldn't contact her Servant for some reason, probably the field. In that case...

" _By my Command Spell, Archer come here immediately!_ " The sound of Sakura's uncharacteristic giggling barely registered over the surprise as... nothing happened.

"Let me guess," she played with her purple hair, "you just tried to summon your Archer?" She frowned before continuing, "I was quite upset to discover that Rider didn't finish the job, but no, it's all for the better."

"What happened to-" Rin shut up before revealing anything, but was quite disappointed when Sakura, with a smile sharp enough to cut with, continued her line of thought. "Emiya-senpai, right? Don't worry, you'll get to meet him when Rider gets back."

 _As I thought, she's definitely besotted with him. Since she wouldn't harm Shirou, as long as Kuro and Sasaku can team up, they should be able to do something._ Or so she thought, but at that moment, she felt something snap, followed soon after by her thin hope.

 **It was the contract between her and Sasaku.**

* * *

"That look... yes, it's as wonderful as I thought it would be." Sakura paused in the middle of toying with Rin's hair, which was hanging loose as the ties had been lost somewhere. Or removed by her. She wasn't talking about her elder's hairstyle though.

"Fufu~ to think nii-san was actually right about something," she continued to herself happily. "I will have to give him a bonus for winning that bet."

"What?" Rin grumbled, off-put by Sakura's ramblings. There was a moment of opportunity before Rider returned, but it didn't seem her magecraft worked any better than the Command Spell had. She turned her glare downward. _That blindfold of Rider's must be the cause._

* * *

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* * *

(Sakura)

" _You need to be careful, there's always a chance to escape any prison,_ " the now-familiar dry voice resounded in her mind. " _Even the stupid pet might get outside on its own now and then._ "

"-I hardly need the warning given my life depends on being able to use her as a prana generator.-"

Sakura frowned while watching a motionless Rin. "Grandfather might volunteer his _expertise_ , but no..."

 _Not only would that waste prana I desperately need, it's counterproductive since he would gain control, not me. And I don't want anyone getting their hands on nee-san but me._

Rin didn't respond at all, so she probably didn't know. _Not surprising_ , since it was not only the secret of Matou magecraft, but Zolgen's personal development on it. Even if Sakura had been on the recieving end, it didn't mean she knew how to use it.

" _If there was some way to steal his familiars from him, you could probably use it too._ "

" _Considering the familiars basically **are** him, that's no easy task. Especially since he's kept me in the dark precisely to prevent such a possibility._"

" _Can Gorgon Breaker prevent him from using them to control you? If should break the link between him and the worms in you._ "

" _But they'd revert to being normal worms which would probably instinctively kill me._ "

" _Hmm, well... as long as you're alive and yourself there's always the chance that a chance will come up. Fuahaha_ " With that her companion fell silent.

"Why so quiet, nee-san?" Sakura spoke up partially to vent her frustration. "I thought you liked the sound of your own voice. Of course, no one outside this field would hear even if you screamed, but you needn't hold back on my account."

Fiddling idly with the long dagger in her hands, she thought about more important matters. Namely her earlier conversation with Rider about, and, Shirou.

* * *

(A while ago, before Rider and Shinji left for the Emiya house)

"Here," Rider said in her silky voice while handing over one of her daggers. "A failsafe."

"I don't quite understand," Sakura muttered while receiving it. "Does it do something special?"

"It's not much more than a piece of steel," the Servant replied. "But if something goes wrong, you might have to kill her with it."

Sakura just looked over at the still probably-unconscious Rin. "Enough about nee-san. About what you're about to do with nii-san..."

"You don't trust his word." Rider's tone said that she agreed with such a sentiment.

"I don't trust any magus, or anyone who knows and wants to become one."

" _Does that include your senpai? Well, once you've got him under lock and key..._ "

" _Shut up, prison spirit._ "

"There's no reason to suspect it will be as easy or neat as he said though. There's still a Servant in the way..." Rider trailed off, perhaps uneasy at coming to the same conclusion as Shinji.

There was also the fact that Shinji held the Command Spell authority, and if things went wrong, might, no certainly would, immediately resort to Rider's pegasus, which would undoubtedly wipe out _everything_ , in order to secure his victory.

"Rider, I've told you before how important Emiya-senpai is to me." Sakura paused and fixed the Servant with a surprisingly steely gaze, while her fingers tightened on the hilt of the weapon.

"In case you didn't quite get it, let me show you..." She brought it up to press the edge against her neck. No further words were necessary.

"Wait a moment," Rider said quickly with a hint of nervousness. "There are things like necromancy, you know?"

"After seeing what Grandfather became just to stay alive, forgive me for not being willing to bet on anyone coming back," she laughed darkly. But seeing the message had been heard, she lowered the dagger, to Rider's relief.

"I understand your instructions perfectly, Master."

"Don't call me that," Sakura retorted automatically. "Since you're following nii-san's orders."

"Didn't you just give me an order though?" Rider replied before beating a quick retreat.

* * *

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* * *

(Outside the Emiya house)

(Shinji)

The pair stopped a short distance away from the front door. Rider had described the Bounded Field around the Emiya estate as dissipating, which boded well for them.

"Like we discussed," Shinji said simply. Nodding, Rider walked forward confidently before pressing herself against the wall. Reaching out with the full length of her arm, she extended a finger towards the doorbell...

 _ ***silent explosion***_

Even before she had touched it, the wall burst outwards, along with half of the door, sending out a massive shower of deadly fragments. Rider, sensing something just before this, tried to move but being caught flatfooted, dropped to the ground as roughly the left half of her upper body was shredded by what struck her.

A mass of black spears traveling at a little above the speed of sound. As they were purely mundane, there was no obvious magical energy approaching to warn their target, and due to their speed, even the sound of the attack only arrived after it did.

Shinji, who had been some distance back reached out a hand instinctively as his Servant was blasted away from the door along with the door. As the mass of now-subsonic spears (and debris) spread out, one of them caught his hand, ripping easily though bone and flesh as the sudden air pressure threw him to the side.

Appearing through the cloud of dust like a demon being summoned, Sasaku walked out and immediately spotted Shinji's prone figure.

Thinking quickly, he thrust his remaining hand into the pocket where his **((Book of False Attendant))** was. " _Rider, help me!_ "

It was more like a prayer of desperation than anything else.

* * *

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* * *

 ** _Details:_**  
Sasaku was standing way far back, basically against the back wall of the kitchen, and sent the spears through the kitchen, dining room and main corridor. Her use of magical energy might have been what tipped Rider off, however it would be at quite a distance, making the detection harder. Plus it occurred right as the attack did, meaning if she was flatfooted, she would have to begin accelerating out of the way before the spears crossed the length of Shirou's house at about the speed of sound (and Sasaku shot them like a shotgun blast).

Someone with -((Protection from Arrows))- like Cu would probably be able to avoid it, as I think the moment the attack begins they are warned in no uncertain terms that an attack is incoming. He should also have the advantage in terms of accelerating - Medusa has a higher top speed, but acceleration is what you need for dodging if the enemy can lead their shots.


	23. Realm's Armory

**Realm's Armory**

* * *

(A while before Rider and Shinji reach the Emiya house)

(Shirou)

His Servant's last preparations were quite inscrutable to him. Sasaku started off by singing a line of something in a language he didn't recognize, then waved her hand, and then said something in Japanese before waving her hand again. She did this several more times, and it was only after a while that he heard something which clued him in.

" _ **Realm's Armory: Volley**_ " At the end of this she snapped her fingers instead of the hand motion, then paused.

 _Ah, it's a type of chant used in magecraft rituals_ he thought to himself, remembering that she had actually used some sort of chant in their earlier 'fight' against Rider, when using her **((Thousand Layered Shields))** spell.

Listening a bit more carefully the second time around, he made out the song thanks to her own translation:

 _The day my people joined hands to labor together,_  
 _Such means multiplied the fruits of their efforts._  
 _The kept secrets were divided up among them,_  
 _Fragments of knowledge were their inheritance._  
 _The skill of one craftman became the wealth of many._

 _The earth, the forest, the mountain, the sea, the sun,_  
 _All such brought forth their plenty, to feed my people._  
 _Burning fire, heated forge, sturdy anvil, crashing hammer,_  
 _Forge among us for us the greatest of Realms._  
 ** _Realm's Armory: Volley_**

* * *

Although it sounded more like a song for working in the farm or forge, the last line made it clear that it was part of an attack. Just the sound of it and what he had seen before suggested something along the lines of throwing a lot of her spears. _Well, it had come up before._

"Sasaku," her Master asked after listening for a while. "Can I learn that chant from you?"

"It won't do anything for you," she replied after a while, "As it isn't _asking_ the world to do something, or _aligning_ oneself to perform a mystery by magecraft. It's actually informing the World that I am about to use items from my Armory. You can't access it, so there's literally no point, unless you like singing. It isn't a good song though."

"Can't you already do that though? I saw you throwing spears at Rider." Though Sasaku nodded her head, she also frowned at the memory.

"This is an attempt to stack as many modifiers or adjust as many tradeoffs as possible to make it useful. The biggest problem is the minimum range, which is unfortunately large for speeds useful at attacking Servants." She thought for a moment before ticking off the points on her slim fingers.

"By making use of the properties of the Realm ( _one_ ), using this to make it easier for the World to _recognize_ what I've brought out ( _two_ ), and in fact burning magical energy in order to hasten the process ( _three_ ), I should be able to get around this problem. Also of course... a cheap shot ( _four_ )."

"No chance of negotiations, huh?"

"Who ever comes, whenever they come, will either be Kuro or Rider. I am definitely not letting Kuro step anywhere close to me, and as for Rider, well they already attacked us first."

Shirou thought for a moment before shrugging. "War's war, I guess. You're sure this will work?"

"The people who've seen me before won't expect the differences, so I should hope so."

"We can't just stay here under siege," he commented.

"Very much so," Sasaku agreed cheerfully. "But right now we have the home advantage and potentially surprise they or anyone else watching thinks we're low-hanging fruit-" She stopped abruptly.

"Ok, get back to my room," she said. "Seems like our visitors are Rider and..."

"Is it her Master?" They hadn't seen who it was during the earlier battle, but as Sasaku said, the Bounded Field around the house was at once not particularly obvious but also stood out to anyone searching for unusual magecraft that might be expected of a Caster Servant.

Or able to follow the trail of magical energy left behind.

"Yes," she replied hesitantly a moment later. "Probably. Now move before they get closer."

* * *

(Sasaku)

She had stopped short of mentioning that the Master was Matou Shinji. _Better to pretend that I didn't know._ After all, while extending the Realm somewhat did allow for finer detection, it was silly to forget that one could also simply scry on themselves, which was what she had been doing the whole time.

Pressing her back against the wall of the kitchen, she first double-checked that Shirou was safely out of the line of fire, back in her room.

Earlier, she had roughly gauged the distance by checking how long it took sound to travel down the corridor and return to her - less than a second for the round trip. With the house's structure fully analysed earlier, matching projectile trajectories to what she could scry on the exterior was not a problem.

l

 ** _Armory Pre-loading Section:_**  
 _First: 25 Soliferrum, square pattern_  
 _Second: 49 Soliferrum, square_ _pattern_  
 _Third: 49 Soliferrum, square_ _pattern_  
 _Fourth: 49 Soliferrum, square_ _pattern_  
 _Fifth: 49 Soliferrum, square_ _pattern_  
 _Sixth: 49 Dory, square_ _ _pattern__

l

 _Hmm... Rider seems to be expecting a surprise attack._

The last volley was there in order to shoot the human Master, though if possible taking a magus alive would be... _handy_. Though, if Rider managed to avoid or worse yet absorb five volleys, that might be the only way out.

l

 _Missile speed, one-hundred-ten percent the speed of sound._

 _Aim point, just a little in front of Rider's center of mass. Angle of attack set._

Rider glanced over her shoulder at Shinji. Neither of them knew it, but as the latter was standing behind and to the side, he was actually in line behind Rider from where Sasaku was standing.

 _It's a pity but that's how things shake out. Well, if they've taken Rin prisoner she'd probably be even better._ A nice thought. The Servant reached out towards the doorbell.

 **((Realm's Armory: Volley))** Sasaku snapped her fingers.

The sound from her fingers was outpaced by the blurred green shimmers that shot forth. A short distance before they would have passed through the front door and wall of the house they resolved into iron spears that instead smashed through the structure.

As far as Sasaku knew, once she began the attack, the information of "magical energy has been used" should reach Rider at around the speed of light. Rider had indeed started to move, but not as fast as Sasaku had expected. As a result, instead of having her whole upper body taken apart by the spears and shrapnel, only the left part was hit instead.

Maybe she realized it was a purely physical attack, as Rider immediately entered spirit form, making further attacks of the sort pointless. Stepping out of the blown-apart front of the Emiya house, Sasaku noticed two things immediately. First, the sprawled out, and handless, Matou Shinji was definitely not a magus. Second, there was something utilizing magical energy as he shouted for Rider to help him.

 _Not on my watch!_

With the speed available to even a low Agility Servant, she made it over to him in the blink of an eye, thrusting her sword-point into the small object that his left hand was awkwardly reaching into his right pocket for. There was a flash as magical energy was released upon the item's destruction, followed by flames racing down blade to burn what was left.

* * *

(Shinji)

Flinching, Shinji rolled away, but at his face came up again, he saw Sasaku calmly following him with her weapon raised up again. It was obvious to both of them that she was going to thrust it downwards into his body. 

Normally the sight of a tattered and bloody woman holding a long and equally bloody dagger was the sort of thing someone saw right before they died in a serial killer horror movie. But to Shinji, the form of Rider appearing behind Sasaku, as her weapon's point elegantly descended upon, and buried itself into, the other Servant's neck was like meeting one's own goddess of salvation.

Sasaku turned around, the motion itself wrenching the weapon's wet handle from Rider's hands. As her attacker came into sight though, so did her eyes. Medusa's _uncovered_ Mystic Eyes of Petrification, **_((Cybele))_**.

With the Grail's energy holding her together, Rider had staked it all on this one form of attack. Even though a Caster would likely have a high enough rank in Mana to avoid the worst of the Cybele's effects, Rider was fortunate in that Sasaku didn't have as much Mana as a typical Caster. As a result, while avoiding the full petrification, she was nevertheless immediately knocked out as the effects disrupted her brain's ability to function.

It was much like the joke about the 'Potion of Anti-Petrification.' Sasaku's skill which allowed her to remove such effects was not usable if she was unconscious or otherwise unable to perform the act of will to activate it.

Gripping his right arm, and trying to not give into the pain coming from what was left of the missing hand, Shinji nevertheless could taste victory as Shirou's dismayed shout came from the direction of the ruined house.

* * *

(Rider)

"Sasaku, stop her!" came the voice of Caster's Master from somewhere behind the two of them. Medusa's mind was on other matters as she greedily stooped over to drink from the fountain of Sasaku's prana-rich blood. Fortunately the girl's blood had not turned to stone or otherwise hardened...

 _Wait._

 _The boy hadn't actually said **Sasaku** but... _There was another set of steps, that was approaching much faster than the speaker's!

Medusa jerked around, her good right arm holding Sasaku in front of her and in between the advancing figure as a human shield. Servant shield, rather.

When she saw the long blade held by the appearing Servant, Rider could only groan, her and Sasaku's blood dripping from her painfully cut lips. _Don't tell me Emiya was actually playing off another ally and Tohsaka?_

Taking out a fresh dagger, she brought it up to her now-hostage's neck before pausing. _Ally or not, that Servant could simply run us **both** through._

Medusa decided to run for it.

Whoever the other's Master was, there was still a chance that Emiya might interfere. According to Sakura, he _was_ rather soft-hearted. Shinji's Command Spell had been to help him, and she had. Since his **((Book of False Attendant))** was destroyed, something which actually she had hoped would happen, there was nothing to keep her from running back to the Matou house as soon as possible.

At least each bit of time allowed her to absorb more prana from the blood she had taken in.

" _Sakura, the plan failed. I'm returning now._ "

* * *

(Shinji)

Rider's ex-Master watched as the Servant ran for it with her captive. The swordsman took after her, but Shirou quickly shouted, "Don't chase her. We don't know if Kuro is around."

 _The War sure has turned into a free-for-all_ he thought dully as, for the third time that night, he found himself looking down sharp steel.

"Grab him and let's get back inside," Shirou ordered the new Servant while following his own words and jogging back inside. "He might know something useful. And I can give first aid..."

* * *

l

* * *

(A short distance away)

Kuro was glad that she had followed her instinct. While she had noticed Sasaku and Shirou's sudden departure, causing what was left of the former's defensive spell to simply disappear, she didn't really blame them for retreating.

In fact, had Rin been able to, she might have done the same, seeing that Rider didn't smash though Rho Aias _only_ because she decided to save on the mana cost and switch to hand-to-hand.

 _There wasn't any solid evidence, but..._ when they had showed up in the morning, she noticed that nothing of what was laid out had been cooked by Shirou. He was understandably upset, of course, but what really got her was Sasaku's usual obedient and subdued self.

 _It was like she didn't care. No one just **wouldn't care**._

And her gut had been proved right, if she had walked up to ask for help tracking down Rin, doubtless she would be the one who got taken apart by that attack. And probably even if she approached by some other angle.

When she saw Rider take down Sasaku, for a moment it looked like a clean mutual kill. _There was a chance_ , until that swordsman appeared on the field. Rider ran for it and the new Servant began to give chase.

" _We don't know if Kuro is around,_ " is what Shirou had said while stopping him.

They were expecting her.

After some thought, she realized that if Rider's Master was Shinji, that meant Rider was probably retreating to the Matou household. As things stood, Rider was definitely in a worse state than she was, so perhaps there was no need to get aid in order to break Rin free.

Kuro began to make for home. It was time to ransack Rin's stash of gems for a little extra mana.

 _She'll understand._

* * *

l

* * *

 ** _Notes:_**  
Now this is just getting messy.

Sasaku's mana level would probably work out to a rank somewhere between C and B. If she was at full capacity then she might have had enough resistance such that she could use **((Higher Law))** to remove the petrification before it built up to excessive levels. However, due to earlier mana use she couldn't, so between that, being quite close and taking the full brunt of it, and taken by surprise, mean that while Rider was also in a pretty bad state, **((Cybele))** was stronger.

Apparently for Medusa to use her eyes does require quite a lot of mana expenditure, so not something as efficient as say **((Gae Bolg))** or Sasaku's spear throwing.


	24. Another Option

**Another Option**

* * *

(Matou house)

(Sakura)

"What happened?" was Sakura's first question as she surveyed her _now-very-very-much-her's_ Servant's condition. The most obvious part being that she was straight-up missing her left arm, and the left portion of her torso and chest had probably regenerated a bit after being ripped open. The rest of her was a gauged and torn mess that probably included additional internal injuries.

" _Caster took us by surprise,_ " Rider responded through their now-unrestricted telepathic link. " _It wasn't a spell either..._ "

The two of them looked at the girl Servant that she had dropped onto the ground near Rin's chair upon returning. "Why didn't you just drain all her blood and kill her?"

Medusa retrieved her blindfold from Rin and awkwardly tried to put it on before Sakura caught on and helped her. " _Apparently the prana in her blood is very hard to absorb, or else she's simply extremely low._ "

Sakura just raised an eyebrow at the uncertain tone of Rider's analysis. "Either way, why not kill her if she's not of use? Or... maybe you can get everything by _disassembling_ her inside the Bloodfort Andromeda?"

" _Disassembling?_ " muttered the companion in her head. " _Sure, Servants' bodies are made of spiritrons but- hmm..._ "

With her Master's help, Rider settled down into a something resembling a seated position on the floor. Nether of them paid much attention to all her blood which was visibly evaporating into prana that the Bounded Field greedily absorbed and returned to Medusa. Who commenced her explanation, " _Your Senpai apparently had another ally besides Tohsaka. With a Saber, unless I miss my guess._ "

"Why do you think so?"

" _Well, they were carrying a ridiculous sword, did not hide their presence at all, and responded when Emiya called him back for fear of Tohsaka's Archer. So class-wise, that's the only possibility._ "

"So why drag his Caster all the way back here? A hostage?"

" _I'm thinking you might be able to negotiate with her. If what you said is true, then their **timely** retreat was probably her idea rather than his. If you can convince her I am still around, maybe it's possible to get her to, well, cooperate._"

"Still around?"

" _I'm basically done for,_ " Medusa sighed. " _I don't really have to explain, do I?_ "

"A Command Spell. I still have..." Sakura checked. "Two."

" _Those don't work that way, unfortunately. I lack any useful healing or regenerative skills or Noble Phantasms. And there's still the question of prana, which **you** also need simply to survive._" Rider shrugged, trying to appear unconcerned about her impending death. " _I hope you're right about the boy. If so, at least you still have a chance._ "

Sakura paused and blinked away some surprise tears. _Servants just return to the Throne of Heroes,_ she reminded herself, but it didn't help much.

 _Isn't this like when uncle..._

" _There is **another** option,_" a male voice suddenly broke into her despairing thoughts. " _What?! Tell me._ "

" _I've been taking a look inside your soul-_ " he paused as she frowned at the intrusion. " _Hey, it's helping you now, right? Anyway there's an interesting Imaginary Number space, more like void, there._ "

" _And how does this help Rider?_ " she snapped at the analysis. _Void?_

" _She can't survive out here, even in spirit form, but you can probably lock her in something resembling stasis there. You'll still need to obtain prana, though._ "

" _Assuming that's true, how would I get anything into a space in my soul?_ "

" _She's a spiritual being, a familiar already bound to you as your Servant._ "

" _More details, I'm listening..._ "

" _Your magecraft, you may not have learning it consciously but nevertheless, **we** can utilize 'bind onto oneself'._"

 _The worms?_ He had said that taking control of them herself might allow her to use the Matou magecraft sort of like, rather **exactly** like using a magic crest. " _And how can I fit a whole Servant inside me?_ "

" _Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. Fufufu-_ "

Sakura opened eyes that she didn't remember closing, and looked down at the crumpled form of Medusa resting almost peacefully at her feet. She reached down and gently shook the Servant back into consciousness.

"Onee-sama...?" Rider muttered incoherently. "No, it's me. Try to focus."

"Oh, I'm still alive," her Servant said in an almost disappointed tone. " _What is it, Master?_ "

"There's a possibility," Sakura said quickly. "You're like a spirit, right? Please allow me to... bind you onto myself."

" _Well, I don't really have anything to lose,_ " came the reply after a brief delay. " _I'm already all yours anyway._ "

Sakura tried to blink away several black lines that blocked her vision, before realizing that the long ribbons of shadow winding themselves around her Servant were quite real. Medusa didn't resist as she was dragged into a shadow that, unseen, had stretched out along the ground from Sakura.

" _What are you doing?!_ " the magus exclaimed in worry at realizing she wasn't controlling the magecraft taking place in front of her.

" _Don't worry Master,_ " came the reply after a while. " _I'll hold on tight, so she won't get away..._ "

Staggering out of the Bounded Field, Sakura gave in to the disgusting excitement of the crest worms that had responded to her use of them by eagerly seeking more prana, and vomited in the center of the room.

 _I should clean that up before Senpai gets here, assuming his new ally doesn't just kill me out of hand._

* * *

l

* * *

(A moment later)

(Rin)

Rin choked back a moan as her consciousness returned again, for she couldn't remember how as many times.

 _Sakura either hates me, **or** she really loves me and is totally crazy_ she mused as well as her cloudy thoughts allowed. It was much like being seriously sick. Of no help was Sakura's ranting, talking, whispering, whatever it was. Rin simply kept quiet or pretended to be in a daze whenever Sakura tried to elicit her attention, though that might be more because she was in a daze.

 _I'm probably running dangerously low on prana,_ warned part of her brain over Sakura's one-sided discussion about her fashion sense.

The other girl's sudden gasp and shift of gaze from Rin to somewhere behind her signified something, but before Rin could observe any more of the developing situation, she blacked out again.

* * *

When she opened her eyes again, Sakura was gone. However, instead of her captor was another familar figure. Rin awkwardly looked around to confirm that the two of them were alone inside the Bounded Field before speaking up.

"Sasaku?"

"Hmm yeah, what is it?" the Servant murmured, apparently quite at ease despite being in an enemy Servant's prana-leeching field. For a moment, Rin wondered if perhaps she was simply hallucinating.

"Are you... actually here?" she asked in a confused tone. "We need to get out, can you take down the Bounded Field?"

"Probably can," she replied completely seriously. "But Rider's on a timer since either Shirou-nii is on his way, or Shinji is dead and she'll be out of magical energy anyway."

"Shinji isn't her Master, Sakura is." The Caster blinked while taking in the information.

"That works out pretty well then, I guess."

"How so?" Rin demanded. Prana deprivation was certainly _not_ doing such a number on her that she couldn't see something obvious. It was though - the answer floored her. "That girl will pretty much throw away even the War if Shirou-nii asks in the right way."

 _Well I sort of should have been able to guess that..._ she admitted to herself, before remembering their shared predicament. "Since that's the case, shouldn't it be okay to get us out of this?

"Rider might do something desperate if I did _that_ ," Sasaku said placidly. "Her draining Field isn't that dangerous to me. It isn't worth the risk."

"I'm dying here," Rin groaned in desperation, tugging a bit against the ropes that weren't really tightly binding her to the chair. "Even if _you_ 've got a Servant's resistances, you can't just sit there and watch me die."

The Caster smiles.

"I can."

* * *

l

* * *

(Sakura)

After cleaning up the mess, Sakura returned to find her two 'guests' apparently mid-conversation. _Apparently Rin was **crying**_? Rider guessed right, Shirou may have been Rin's ally, but not her friend. Or at least his Servant, at any rate. _Good enough_.

"Sasaku-chan," she said with a practiced cheerfulness that she _definitely_ didn't feel, while extending a hand. "This isn't a good place, shall we discuss our business somewhere more fitting?"

As a Caster, Sasaku could probably break though the Bloodfort Andromeda, especially given how she had dealt with it earlier. Since Rider was not actually around to contain her, a combination of bluff and show of good will was in order.

" _A circle of betrayal and deception. Haha-_ " She squashed the annoying chuckling.

Sasaku just smiled and took her hand without a word. A glance showed a completely pole-axed Rin. _I wonder what they were talking about?_

Leading the Caster, Sakura thinned the Boundary Field that she and Rider had collaborated on until it was thin enough for the two of them to simply walk through, leaving Rin alone to her thoughts.

* * *

The two of them sat on the only other piece of furniture in the room (besides the desk, anyway), which was her small bed. Sakura turned to the Servant and said as naturally as possible, "As we'll discuss magecraft and the War, I understand if you want to ensure our privacy yourself."

It was necessary so that Grandfather couldn't eavesdrop. Even if Sakura herself could do it, and she couldn't, the senior magus probably would be able to bypass it. Caster took the hint, nodding before responding with a low "Then, with your leave."

 _Almost as if this house is mine, rather than Grandfather's._ A nice thought, if totally at odds with reality.

There was a faint tingle as prana spread around around the two of them. Sakura shifted uncomfortably as several of the worms inside of her responded to being suddenly isolated from Grandfather's influence. Because she had a part in putting up the modified Bloodfort, it seemed he was able to reach into it...

Sasaku waited for a while as the two sat in silence, before opening with a simple, "You know that Shirou-nii will show up any moment now?"

The magus frowned sourly, her thoughts of negotiation derailed. "We both know that I know you're his Servant, why keep the act?"

"Eh?" Caster seemed genuinely confused by the question. "I have all the paperwork though?"

"Wouldn't they be fakes that Tohsaka made for you?" Sakura shot back.

"Yeah." A shrug followed the admission. "Is this about her? Because we're not friends."

"I guessed as much. So, what did she do to tick you off?" _Now we're getting to something good._

"Had her Archer rough me up, made me accept a geas scroll contract so she could control me - oh yeah, I guess I owe you one, so thanks." Sakura only looked at her questioningly until she volunteered, "It's something on a level of a Command Spell, but I guess your draining Field leeched from the connection so it... became unstable and broke."

" _Wait, that's exactly what we need! Control..._ " Keeping her thoughts separate from her 'friend' was getting hard, but at least she didn't let it show. "Does this contract work on normal people?"

Caster didn't take any time to process the question or answer. "It seems magi in this age think it's an unbreakable binding, to the extent of one's soul." She outright laughed before continuing, "I'm sure you know that Servants don't follow the common sense of mortals."

"It would be like a magi to think they can control everything," Sakura agreed easily. "Can you...?"

"Unfortunately, I have no idea how to construct such a contract," Caster frowned. "But then again, since you already have Rin in hand, surely you can loot her house - there should be something there about it. I'm told she has been alone there for quite a while, so she can't have been taught directly."

 _Yeah, she's been there for a while, just smugly watching her domain._ Sakura paused to consider the implications. Not about if taking the information on Tohsaka magecraft, but rather who should. She wouldn't be able to make use of it, and letting Grandfather get his hands on anything was as bad of an idea as... "L _ocking yourself up and throwing the key out of reach_."

"I propose a trade: I'll lend you full access to all the Tohsaka material, if you lend me an appropriate amount of prana." As balanced as an offer as she could make. Or so she hoped it would be taken as, since there wasn't _anything_ she could do to prevent Caster from just taking it all and leaving her, Rider and Rin for dead.

Well actually she might try to use the two of them for prana generation, but that meant Sakura wouldn't be useful once she found out about...

When Caster frowned, Sakura's heart sank, but instead of a rejection or threats, the Servant said "I can't transfer any magical energy to you. You must have noticed by now that it's hardly absorbed by your Field, or when your Servant vampired on me."

There was silence for a while before Caster spoke up again. "You need it for your Rider?" A quick nod was all the reply needed.

"That's my fault, I thought Shinji was her Master."

"He sort of was... Grandfather did something."

"I see."

* * *

"Can you draw from one of the leylines for me?" Sakura offered after considering the various sources of prana.

"I can't use it," Caster denied the suggestion flatly. "Is Rider drawing enough to actually kill you?"

"Ha- that might be the case," Sakura remembered how her uncle, and thus his 'strongest' Berserker Hercules had basically killed one another in such a way. That strength had to be paid for, and they couldn't run out on the bill. Lowering her head so that Caster couldn't see her face, she thought about how, even if she 'got rid' of Rider, the worms would probably still end up killing her and likely devour her corpse on their way out.

Caster sighed in resignation. "There is another option."

Sakura immediately caught hold of the proffered hope. "What is it?"

"You might be able to take it from Shirou-nii." _Again with calling him that. Wait, she can't mean_ \- her thoughts froze.

"He can't possibly have enough," she muttered numbly, trying to do the math on how many units worth of energy it might take. Which honestly she had no idea, besides probably **a lot**.

"I have some stores back home," Caster replied, though by the look of it she was having the same thought. "But anyway it's just a bottleneck issue, since you can get more output from Rin _if_ you are able to let her walk about rather than sealed in a Field where she can't generate any usable prana.

"Ah, that's right." Things were looking up. "Information for prana swap, then we'll swap back later, sounds good?"

The two magi shook on it.

* * *

l

* * *

 ** _Notes:_**  
Yes, Rin was facing the windows, with her back to the room's door.  
As far as I can tell, while Servants can resist things like Command Spells, if you have a geas or such as part of your legend, you can't resist that any better as a Servant than a person because it really is written into your Saint Graph. Conversely I guess, trying to add one that doesn't belong to your Saint Graph probably doesn't work as well as one might guess.


	25. Talks With Matou

**Talks with Matou**

* * *

(Sakura)

"By the way," Caster said after a moment. "You do need to let up on Rin, she _will_ die if you drain her totally dry."

"Eh?" Sakura thought for a moment. "I didn't think she was that badly off, but I'll take your word for it."

"You must've seen some crazy stuff if you think she _doesn't_ look to be in a really bad state," Caster said, receiving a slight nod in turn.

"So, tell me, just how much information **did** you tell Emiya-senpai while we were talking?" Sakura refused to believe Caster's innocent expression. "This is your privacy Field, and while I appreciate it, don't bother telling me you couldn't communicate through it."

"Only enough that he wouldn't come of as _completely_ ignorant of the situation," Caster said in a normal tone unlike someone who had just been caught out. "I mean, you intend to actually speak to him _without_ me around."

"Yes, I do." Sakura said firmly. "Thanks for understanding."

"If that's what you want, then it's up to you to convince him of our agreement."

"If he disagreed, you'd go along with what he wanted, wouldn't you?"

"I'm only a Servant after all," Caster admitted easily. _Hmph._

"I hope you don't mind agreeing to take a little _nap_ while we talk. As it is, having so many Servants in here is too much." After Caster dropped her Field, the two of them walked back to Sakura's one. She paused to change it from a draining Field to simply one that blocked the usual flow of magical energy.

"Not that it would help any to refuse, but if you're planning to just knock me out..."

Sakura made a show of reaching into her pocket, though she actually pulled Rider's Gorgon Breaker out of her Imaginary Space. "This won't have the side-effects of her Mystic Eyes, so it would be preferable if you cooperated."

Caster shrugged and sat down on the ground in front of Rin, who stirred slightly and looked at the two of them. After reconsidering, the Servant instead lay down flat and looked upwards at Sakura in silence.

The purple-haired magus fastened her Servant's blindfold around Caster's eyes. A brief flow of prana was all it took to lock her consciousness in a 'dream'. Sakura narrowed her eyes as the Noble Phantasm began drawing steadily on her dwindling prana supply, as though struggling to keep Caster in its grasp, but after a while, the draw began to slow.

" _You know, I think that can give them either a nice dream, or a nightmare._ " her mental companion spoke up. " _Which did you give her? I couldn't tell._ "

" _Figure it out yourself._ "

She turned to her sister, but whatever she was about to say was forgotten as the doorbell rang. Sakura just glanced at the clock on her table - Shirou had not wasted any time chasing after his Servant. Though it was perhaps disingenuous of her, Sasaku communicating with him might have helped prevent a situations like, oh, a Saber smashing down her front door.

"I'll be back, nee-san." Sakura nodded to herself and left, closing the door behind her. The Field prevented seeing or hearing from outside, but in its current state, one could see and hear from inside, after all.

* * *

(Matou house, front door)

"Senpai, what a surprise to see you at this hour," Sakura said in her usual manner.

"I think you're playing host to my Teacher," he said after a moment, as the Servant behind him stepped forward holding Shinji. Sakura immediately noticed her brother's missing hand and the awkwardly tied tourniquet. "I think we both might have need of her expertise."

"Come in," she said as though nothing out of the ordinary was taking place. "Will your friend's friend be coming too?"

Shirou paused, blinked, and replied with "Oh, she left this up to me."

Sakura pressed her lips together as everyone filed into the house. _Senpai gathering more girls again... wait, it's more likely to be an older woman._

She checked that the door to the basement was closed before joining them in the living room, though it hardly mattered as Grandfather could definitely spy on anything in the house.

Saber laid Shinji down before taking a seat. Shirou glanced at Sakura as the unconscious boy moaned at the motion.

"I didn't have the ability to treat him," Caster's Master explained apologetically. "I think my Teacher might be able to do something to help..." he trailed off significantly.

"She's your **Servant** ," Sakura said flatly.

"I never learned anything of magecraft, even its existence, until I met her, so she's both," he explained patiently, before switching to a more direct tone. "Where are you keeping her?"

Sakura ignored his question, having other things on her mind. Especially since the Gorgon Breaker was starting to increase its prana draw for some reason. "Did she tell you about our deal?" she asked simply.

"Yes."

He didn't seem inclined to elaborate. She continued, "So?"

"You already reached an agreement, but for some daft reason she _forgot_ to include herself." Shirou nodded in Shinji's direction. "It might not be the fairest trade, but we're apparently allies now, so take it as a gift exchange."

Sakura lightly bit her lips before stopping. "Sure, if you're willing to give me that prana now, that is."

Shirou thought for a moment before replying, "You have my word that I will _once_ I see her."

 _Well, I guess that's good enough. I wasn't expecting Shinji to be alive. Huh, does he think I was holding her to ransom?_ Sakura nodded, "Stay here and don't touch anything. I'll bring her down."

* * *

(Sakura's room)

She sighed in relief after removing the blindfold from her 'guest'. It probably wasn't deliberate, but Caster had definitely been up to something, to use up so much prana. The girl on the floor blinked and sat up. "So?"

"I need you to give some healing to my brother," Sakura said simply, receiving a nod in return. "Then you can handle your affairs with Tohsaka before we continue our discussion."

Caster looked confused by that, probably because they hadn't actually left any 'discussion' for later. But in Sakura's mind, the real _business_ was yet to begin. Though her Grandfather was legendary in preparation, schemes and sheer survival instincts, there was after all a literal legend of a magus. _I just need to approach this though Senpai._

" _Always be on your guard most just before the break out,_ " her helpful friend warned her. " _I know full well what magi are like,_ " she snapped at him. All this time nothing showed on her face as Caster finished what she was saying.

Caster repeated herself, though she was at least trying to be subtle about it. "Since I don't have any healing-specific skills in this form, I'd recommend the Church."

"Hmm yeah, well I'll think about it," she said non-noncommittally, which caught Caster by surprise. "Do you not have a good relationship with your brother?"

"Not really."

* * *

(Living room)

Sakura and the swordsman Servant watched as Caster examined a now-conscious Shinji. At least he had stopped screaming, which had been grating on her nerves and started when he regained consciousness.

"Thank goodness you came," he said after a while. "I was beginning to think your friend there was going to just amputate it with his freakishly large sword."

"Oh, that wouldn't be appropriate," she said frowning. "Wrong tool. Well you'll live at least. Left-handed, though."

"This is your fault!" he snarled, forgetting everything else in the memory of earlier that night. Caster didn't seem to care. "I actually _wasn't_ aiming for you, believe it or not. You were just standing in the line of fire."

Looking around, Sakura caught sight of an uncomfortable Shirou who was also watching the proceedings, and smiled slightly to herself before approaching him. "Ah Senpai, if you'd follow me, it would be preferable to get that prana _before_ I pass out."

"Er, right. Of course." he said as she took his hand and led him to the stairs up. Somewhere behind them Shinji suddenly shouted something like "Wait, what?!"

 _It definitely was about his own problems, right?_

* * *

l

* * *

(Earlier, at the door to the Matou house)

(Shirou's perspective)

Walking up to Sakura's front door and ringing the doorbell suddenly felt really ominous.- Probably because the last doorbell someone rang resulted in them getting shredded by Sasaku's spears...

That said, this was Sakura, she'd never do something like that... _Though Shinji thought the same about me._ Pushing aside these thoughts he rang the doorbell. Nothing happened for a while.

Then he heard the sound of familiar footsteps coming down inside the house and steadily moving towards the door. Nervously, he moved back a little. "Make sure to let her see Shinji _after_ we've said hello," he reminded the Servant just behind him. "I don't know if she'll react well or not."

It basically depended on if she expected him to be alive or not. Of course, he didn't treat her in the best manner, but still, it _was_ a sibling relationship.

The door opened slowly, almost hesitantly, to show the expected purple-haired girl.

 _Magus_ he reminded himself. _I can't lean on Sasaku now, need to be on guard._

"Senpai, what a surprise to see you at this hour."

* * *

Rather than make small talk, Shirou immediately moved on to business while keeping in mind everything Sasaku had told him earlier through their metal link. Such as: " _I'm in one of their unused guest rooms, by the looks of it. Rider is around somewhere, she should be injured but Sakura made sure I never got a glimpse of her._ "

Sakura seemed to think, as was normal, that the Saber carrying Shinji was on loan to him. Given that, and her own need for magical energy, she probably didn't have a clue how screwed he was if she killed Sasaku. Added to that, going the length of making a deal with her, rather than simply as a hostage, meant that he should act as though he had the upper hand.

"I think my Teacher might be able to do something to help..."

He and Sakura made a few casual passes without any agreement. Thankfully, Sasaku had convinced her captor that she needed his cooperation to get the needed energy, so Sakura definitely had no clue about the Caster's special skill. He didn't really understand why she decided to trade the energy for information on Tohsaka's magecraft though, rather than her own freedom.

"...a gift exchange."

On the other hand, Sakura seemed to think she had to negotiate _again_ , and for the same thing, so perhaps they had managed to sell the same assistance twice?

Anyway with the excuse that Sasaku was the only one who could help her brother, he convinced Sakura to give way.

"I'll bring her down."

Maybe she felt pressured by Saber, or her brother's condition, or she -really- needed that energy, but regardless of why, Sakura quickly went upstairs. That is, after warning him not to go anywhere in the house.

* * *

After Sakura's footsteps had gone silent upstairs, suddenly Sasaku spoke up in his mind. " _Good job, seems she's quite happy. I hope you didn't give away anything valuable._ "

" _Nothing really, just you need to help Shinji. Since you, uh, caused him to lose a hand..._ " Shirou wasn't sure what to make of that. Earlier, she had made it sound like Sakura might have some demands, but she didn't really?

" _She didn't try to extract anything else from you? Good, good..._ " His eyebrows went up of their own accord. " _Wait, was that a plan of yours?_ "

" _Not really, I just figured she'd bargain hard with me but easy with you. And I had nothing on me anyway. Did you see Rider anywhere?_ "

" _I didn't._ " There wasn't really a need to worry about a surprise attack, since a sturdy Saber was next to him. More importantly, she had nothing to gain from such an act. " _Keep an eye out for her then. Oh and look up._ "

He turned in time to see a smiling Sasaku quietly following Sakura into the room.

* * *

(A little later)

As he followed Sakura upstairs, he asked Sasaku what her plans were. Obviously, she wanted to get back to the Emiya estate, so Sakura would have to be convinced to let them leave. However, unsurprisingly given that Casters were magi, she also wanted to go the extra mile for some knowledge.

" _It's also that Kuro is around somewhere, so this should lure her out._ "

" _So that's what you were trying to keep on the low-down,_ " he thought at her. " _Then, can you even use that information?_ "

" _For things, probably,_ " she replied in the vaguest manner.

The sound of Sakura locking the door behind them brought Shirou back to the present.

"I don't really know how to do anything with magecraft," he said after a moment of Sakura just looking expectantly at him. "She's only been my Servant for a while, we haven't had time for lessons," he explained quickly.

"It's no problem, Senpai," she said in a much more relaxed tone than earlier. "I can show you everything, but... it's just between us, ok?"

"Oh sure," he agreed easily. First Tohsaka's stuff and now this, Sakura seemed pretty free with the secret knowledge.

"Just sit down there," she said nervously, pointing at the neatly made bed in one corner.

"Thanks."

" _Hey Sasaku._ " " _What is it?_ " " _Can you get everything done tonight? As in before the sun rises._ "

A brief pause followed. Shirou looked up to see Sakura deep in thought for some reason. " _I want to get back as soon as possible too. Sakura's Grandfather isn't necessarily friendly, even if he isn't a Master in the War._ "

" _Rin did say he was a nasty person, well when she thought he was the Matou Master. I wonder... does that mean Sakura is like me?_ "

" _Maybe. Explains how even with her **and** Shinji working together they have problems after Rider just used her Noble Phantasm once and took some damage. Either that or I actually did quite a number on her, I don't know either way._"

" _Yeah, well they are unlikely to pull that out in their own house,_ " he pointed out, more for his own peace of mind than any tactical consideration, as Sakura cleared her throat. "Um, senpai...?"

He glanced at her for a moment before it registered.

"Eh...? Wait, why did you take off your clothes?"

* * *

l

* * *

(Sasaku)

" _Shirou? Master?_ " Sasaku shared a look with Saber. _Be ready_. " _What's going on?_ "

" _Ahaha,_ " he laughed in the most fake manner ever sent via telepathy. " _Well, you didn't know, but this ritual is a bit..._ "

Oh, she hadn't explained to him about Rider's Field. " _Don't worry, she can adjust it to not be too draining. Take it easy, you're in good hands._ " Though it was a Noble Phantasm, since Sakura had some control over it, there shouldn't be any danger.

" _Y-yeah, get everything done and in order. Talk to you later._ " The mental link cut off abruptly. She wasn't surprised or worried though, since the Field did disrupt such communications. Anyway, if she had to entrust Shirou's safety to any magus, not that she knew many, Sakura would surely be the most careful with him.

Finishing up her healing work, she turned to her fellow Servant. " _Ok, here's the plan. You stay here, next to one of the windows facing Rin's house..._ "

* * *

l

* * *

 ** _Notes:_**  
Next time, some honest fighting. That ambush didn't count (didn't get labeled as a fight).

l

Sasaku of course expected that Sakura would use the Bloodfort to draw the mana from Shirou. Except, when she released the draining aspect of the Field, she couldn't put it back up (since it was Rider's contribution). Even though Sasaku could guess _that_ , she expected Rider to show up to re-do it, which is why she wanted Shirou to be on the lookout.


	26. Caught Red-Handed (Battle)

**Caught Red-Handed (Fight)**

* * *

(Matou house, Sakura's room)

(Shirou)

"Um," he said after a moment. "To avoid a really embarrassing misunderstanding, this _isn't_ about some really complicated magecraft procedure?"

"I hardly know any magecraft," she said apologetically, toying with her purple hair. Shirou noticed distractedly that she was still wearing that ribbon of hers. "You don't either, right?"

He simply nodded, occupied with his own thoughts, as she sat next to him.

"Tell me," she spoke up again, with a edge to her voice. "Are you talking with Sasaku-chan **right now**?"

"No." The reply was immediate and totally honest, as he had closed off their link earlier, more of out embarrassed instinct than anything. "This has nothing to do with her." Yes, but also no. Sakura seemed satisfied by the answer though.

Sakura took a deep breath, which did _interesting_ things to her generously proportioned chest. "Is this because you were working with Rin?"

He snorted, feeling his blood rise slightly, though in anger rather than arousal. Mostly, anyway. "Don't remind me about her. She tried to screw me over, you know." She nodded, simply adding "Your Caster... mentioned it."

The pair fell silent. Shirou realized that Sasaku probably had no idea what Sakura had in mind. Yes, they might not have gone into the details, but that meant it was 100% the latter's idea. _But that would mean..._

"Senpai," she spoke up suddenly. "Does my body disgust you?"

His head shot up and he turned to face her before saying, to her or himself, he didn't know, "Definitely not. You're very cute, so much so... I don't know where to look."

"Hnnn." She made a cute sound and paired that with a modest blush. "Look anywhere you want."

 ***click***

 **"** _People who want to be owned by you... They're probably more dangerous, if only due to being less predictable._ **"**

 _ **That's** why this feels odd. I thought I understood how she'd act, but I don't really know her as well as I imagined, huh..._

* * *

(Sakura)

The boy, no man, just a little distance from her was deep in thought. It made her a little happy that it was probably about her, but his distracted frown hurt her heart. _This is, yes, more important than just some prana._

"Tell me what's bothering you," she said, deciding to have it straight out due to a lack of any better ideas.

"It feels backwards," Shirou said slowly as though it took a great deal of effort to push out each word. "Since we haven't even, you know, dated or kissed or anything like that."

"Isn't that sort of like an arranged marriage?" Laughing to herself, she moved closer to him and brought their lips together briefly. "Take me on a date later?"

* * *

(Shirou)

When Sakura suddenly kissed him by surprise, he...

 _It was like an instinct, no it was something from before... never mind that._ When rational thought returned, he found himself looking down on Sakura. Because he had abruptly pushed her over like it was the most natural opener. What really struck him though, was that she looked positively thrilled by the development.

"If you're fine with me-" he cut off as she raised a slim finger to his mouth. "Senpai, that's the girl's line."

"Can you at least call me by my name," he grumbled, holding still as her hands worked on his pants. "Whatever you want... Shirou."

* * *

l

* * *

(About the same time, Tohsaka house)

(Kuro)

It was a weird state of affairs all around. Though she had presumably been brought as a hostage or mana pick-me-up, Sasaku was definitely a prisoner, as was Rin. After Shirou-nii and that sword-bearing Servant went in with Shinji, the Caster came out by herself and headed straight for Rin's house.

 _Did she think Rider did me in? No, any examination would show that Rin still had active Command Spells, so she probably thinks I'm just in bad shape._

Kuro grinned in what Rin would call a cocky manner. Not because she hadn't been in bad shape, but rather... after desperately following Rider back, she remembered that Rin had a habit of storing her 'excess' mana in jewels, as part of her magecraft. Of course she had taken precautions to keep them out of her Servant's hands, but this was an emergency so Kuro simply did a sweep of the house and found some of the jewels.

There had been some traps, presumably for dealing with burglars - they were totally ineffective against Kuro's Magic Resistance. It had taken a while, but at least she managed to drain the energy without damaging the jewels, or so Kuro thought anyway. It wasn't a large enough supply to keep her going for long, but with Independent Action bought a couple more days.

Sasaku carefully moved though the various Bounded Fields and other magical defenses that Rin had painstakingly put up. Though even talented Rin would have taken a while due to the sheer number, strength, and variety, the Caster worked her way inwards steadily without any serious issues.

* * *

Kuro considered various approaches. The best, in her ranking, was to close in. To do otherwise was risking a mass of spears to the face. She had a shield, but it would burn through all her mana, which she had less of than a Caster using what was probably a mana-efficient attack.

Narrowing her focus, she guessed that Sasaku was near the summoning, workshop and storage area. All of which had quite well-warded walls. Though not something of direct interest, it might help block her ability to sense Kuro approaching, especially in spirit form.

As Kuro poked her head around the doorpost to the relatively uncluttered empty summoning room, she found Sasaku standing near one of the tables, looking at the various implements Rin had used to create the summoning circle occupying the center of the room. _Perfect._

As her body took physical form, twin swords flashed into place in her hands.

Sasaku looked up, probably detecting the use of magical energy.

 _Too late!_ Kuro started throwing swords while carefully gouging the distance. She was quite familiar with the dimensions of the room, and had already pegged Sasaku's location before the Caster snapped her fingers.

Green shimmers started shooting towards her, but slow, so much slower than before. Rather than dodge to the side or drop to the ground, Kuro gripped the last pair of swords as Sasaku darted forward.

The Archer triggered her skill, adjusting her aim point. Accounting for Sasaku's motion this should put her in the perfect position. But as she swung her weapons with every intent to kill, right after changing her position by teleporting...

 _She's a little to the side?_

Sasaku's weapon whipped around, as she turned the angular momentum from her sidestep-into-spin into the attack. Kuro quickly moved to block with her left-hand sword and attack with the other, but as the attack slammed into the block, Kuro was sent flying backwards a few steps as her own attack missed due to being now out of range.

 _That shouldn't be possible._ Kuro blinked in surprise as Sasaku advanced to close the distance, her long sword having gone around her back and moving right to left as it swung in front of her. _She can't have a higher strength than me._

The Caster's sword ducked around behind her again, in time with her next step, and Kuro realized that it wasn't, as she had thought, the same weapon that she had seen before. That one was on the small side for a European style longsword, while this was on the large and heavy end of the scale. Being as small as Sasaku was, the former was awkwardly long, while her current choice was only usable in a two-handed stance.

"Hmph."

Stepping forward, Kuro stepped while turning in order to use her left sword to block near the end of Sasaku's weapon while her right quickly thrust forward in the same tempo to-

Sasaku bent her knees slightly, allowing the point of her sword to slide forward in a thrust as her swing bought it in line with Kuro's defending hand. Rather than blocking as before, Kuro flicked her wrist, sending a cut into Sasaku's thrust, causing the latter's point to instead pierce the air just a little above Kuro's hand.

The defensive parry sent Kuro's own attack off, but as it was aimed at center-mass, it cut cleanly to Sasaku's left side. However, the large sword was still swinging, so continuing her turning motion, Kuro simply stepped -into- Sasaku, slamming her right shoulder into the other's gut.

Rather than going flying as expected, there was something like a cracking sound. and Sasaku staggered backwards, awkwardly trying to maintain control of her sword with only her right hand, as her left arm was flung away when the two Servants had rammed into one another.

 _Ah!_ That clued Kuro in on Sasaku's trick. _So she was using magecraft to fix herself to the ground and simply used physics - momentum to throw me back. Then...!_

Crouching before lunging forward, Kuro shot upwards slightly with left sword extended to parry and the right held in reserve for the riposte. Sasaku instinctively went for an overhead downward strike rather than a sideways swing. The weapons clashed.

Kuro's trajectory abruptly changed from upward to downward, but even as she felt the magecraft-Reinforced floor pressing against her feet without giving, she simply continued moving forward. All the momentum of Sasaku's attack was directed downward into the floor, while not stopping Kuro's charge.

As she was now low to the ground and in any case somewhat shorter than Sasaku, it was easy to swipe at the other's right leg, though it was more of a stetch as she was already pulling it back sharply. Before she started to lose her balance, Sasaku kicked Kuro's extended weapon with her good leg. The sword wrenched itself free and fell to the ground, while Sasaku went flying away. Kuro simply Projected a replacement, pouncing quickly as Sasaku's back hit the ground.

Kuro's black sword pushed a surprise dagger thrust to the side, while her white sword descended on Sasaku's prone form. Her target twisted, causing the blade to cut into her upper arm as their bodies collided, slamming Sasaku into the floor again.

As she pulled her right arm back, Kuro deftly used the turning of her upper body to bash the pommel in her left hand against the side of Sasaku's head. A moment later, the white sword's point curved downwards, piercing though Sasaku's shoulder.

 _I shouldn't go overboard and kill her,_ Kuro thought while yanking her sword free. _I still need the ma- **huh?**_

Her hand went up, but refused to come back down. She glanced to the side and saw that bloody steel had sprouted from her right forearm. Time seemed to freeze.

"Damnit," Sasaku groaned. "What took you so long, Saber?"

"I came as soon as you called," he replied impassively, sliding his weapon back out the way it came and taking a guard stance. "Don't blame me for your weakness."

Sasaku awkwardly rolled Kuro off her with one hand and sat up, apparently ignoring the wounds she had sustained in their brief battle. Kuro on the other hand, was untouched, except for the surprise attack. In any case, it wasn't as though they were about to have a left-handed duel.

"I was hoping to be able to talk with her, you should've come faster when it was obvious Kuro simply attacked," Sasaku frowned at her timely savior, who simply snorted.

Kuro opened her mouth to say something, but Sasaku abruptly jumped to her feet and ran out, shouting for the swordsman to "Keep an eye on her!"

* * *

(Saber)

He looked down expressionlessly at the small Archer on the ground in front of him. Well, she definitely topped the Caster who had just raced out.

"I would be interested in a proper duel in the future," he stated as though arranging a lunch together. "And my Master would prefer I didn't kill you," he added as an afterthought. "Though if you try to run, I will slice you up."

'You used that like a _spear_ though," Kuro replied sarcastically, holding her right arm where the blade had pierced though. A clean wound though, it would not be hard to heal, all things considered.

"What," she said when he didn't reply. "So did your Master send you to help Shirou-nii, or just to find herself a new ally?" He continued to keep silent.

"This must be the crappiest free-for-all ever," she grumbled to herself more than her silent audience of one.

* * *

After a moment Sasaku returned with a fading blush and Rider's blindfold in hand. "For the record, I'm totally _not_ into that scene," Kuro said with a put-on lightness as Sasaku approached her.

"Tsk. Just cooperate, take a nap for a while and I'll let you see a nice dream while I get some work done."

Saber raised an eyebrow. "Did you not think to get a hold of that beforehand? Aren't magi supposed to be meticulous?"

"Well Sakura ran out when I was looking over Shinji and I forgot. _Apparently_ she really wanted that _*cough*_ magical energy," Sasaku retorted while settling the blindfold on Kuro. "Let's see here..."

And then the next thing Kuro knew...

* * *

l

* * *

 _Notes:_  
Apparently you can do some interesting thrusts with curved swords. They don't go straight, and can potentially get around a relatively narrow defensive move.


	27. Not as Planned (Battle, v2)

**Not As Planned (Battle, v2)**

* * *

(Tohsaka house, Summoning room, a little earlier)

(Sasaku)

She looked at the various formalcraft instruments and reagents neatly laid out in drawers. They had most likely last seen use in constructing the slightly scuffed summoning circle occupying the center of the room. The damage was probably from Rin summoning Kuro. _A few days ago now._

That said though, all the other reagents must be elsewhere. There should be magecraft and spell books around somewhere as well. Rin had some method of storing magical energy, which Sasaku had detected and noted but couldn't reproduce without more detailed information, or better yet instructions.

 _The Tohsaka family **should** have built up a substantial cache, of information and materials. _Even given they would have gone to some pains to hide it, there was shockingly little evidence of the expected treasure trove. She wouldn't be surprised to trip over an entire library worth, or something similar in scale.

 _While Sakura might expect me to only be able to flip through a few tomes, of course I will throw everything in the Armory and analyze it there._

A soft sound from the side broke her thoughts of some light reading. Either that or the energy signature from Kuro forming her paired swords. _Damn it._

" _Kuro's attacking me, come over!_ "

" _...on my way._ " Saber didn't seem particularly enthusiastic, but he would keep his word. That said though, the plan required a tradeoff - if he was too close Kuro might not show, to far and his help might be too far if needed.

* * *

Sasaku hurriedly pulled to hand the sword she had prepared beforehand in the Armory, and quickly rushed Kuro while also getting clear from the wall. The space was necessary to swing the large weapon around. Unlike with Lancer, Kuro already knew she would have the upper hand, so playing defensive would simply mean getting bashed by her.

Kuro grin flashed before her in the moment before the green shimmer of spears being thrown from her Armory blocked both sides' sight. Moving her advancing foot a bit to the side before it touched the ground, Sasaku sent her weapon slicing around to where she guessed Kuro would teleport to. The Archer had definitely seen her moving forward but wouldn't catch the side-step. It was only a question of if she knew about the minimum range on the spears or not...

 _...or she just went for it really fast._ Kuro appeared in a slightly different spot, and Sasaku's swing was too far away to reach in time. _Obviously her teleport technique isn't restricted to first throwing **two** pairs of swords..._

Fixing her feet firmly into the ground, using the summoning circle she was standing on the edge of as an anchor, Sasaku allowed her horizontal cut to smash directly into Kuro's instinctive block with her left sword.

Kuro's right-handed riposte was properly adjusted for Sasaku's actual position, but as the Archer was thrown backwards, her blade now missed the Caster's chest by a decent look of surprise on her face as she suddenly found herself several paces away was encouraging, but it wasn't a clincher move by any chance.

Sasaku rushed forward on the attack again. _Where's that Saber, don't tell me he got lost..._ Of course, she didn't know that he was actually having trouble finding them through the carefully warded walls and floors of the house.

Rather than give in to her surprise, or perhaps because of it, Kuro stepped into Sasaku's attack and basically repeated her left-right parry-and-riposte combination. And despite using a much lighter weapon and a single hand, she easily redirected Sasaku's swing and closed in well past both point and cutting portion of the blade into grappling range. _Oh crap!_

As she was turning for the best chance at the deflection, Kuro abandoned her initial attack and instead shoulder-rammed Sasaku. Because she had stepped forward off the summoning circle, trying to fix herself to the ground failed miserably. Though Sasaku ended up giving ground, she ended up back on the summoning circle.

But Kuro simply charged forward to close the distance again, clearly confident in her superior combat strength. _And she's right to be._ Sasaku felt her arm complain as she tried to fling it in the way of her attacker, though she was already preparing a sidearm to her left hand, rather than attempt to restore her two-handed grip. Both sides met again, and this time, summoning circle anchor or not, Kuro's momentum sent Sasaku skyward with hardly any resistance.

While in mid-air, the sight of Kuro summoning a new sword to replace the one she had lost in the exchange flashed for a moment in Sasaku's eyes before she hit the ground. She blindly thrust upwards on a guess about how quickly Kuro would reach her.

It wasn't a wrong guess, just that _Kuro has a great level of combat instinct_ and blocked the last-ditch attack without even noticing it.

And then a beat-down occurred.

* * *

(A moment later)

"Don't blame me for your weakness," her savior Saber said with only a touch of irony. _Well obviously I'm weak, I'm in a **Caster** class container!_

Still he had, as planned, gotten there and 'stopped' Kuro with his massive polearm-sized sword. Sasaku grumbled, but if anything it only amused him. He didn't even help get Kuro off her! Though the Archer was light enough.

At that point, she suddenly encountered two surprises. First, Shirou's energy levels took a sudden, shocking drop. Second was the realization that she had not actually lost contact with him in the first place.

 _What the hell was going on there?!_

Grimacing as her body quickly knit itself back together, or well enough functionally anyway, she quickly decided to split her 'forces'. "Keep an eye on her!" she threw to the Saber on her way out. With his speed, Kuro wouldn't even be able to enter spirit form before getting skewered or cut in two.

Sure, was not disarmed by any stretch, but the swordsman was well rested, fully stocked on energy and probably _wanting_ a good fight.

* * *

l

* * *

(A moment after that)

(Sakura's room)

Shirou was in the relatively empty room where she and Rin had been held earlier, which was as expected. He was also unconscious, again expected given the sudden mana outflow she detected earlier. What was **not** expected was his undressed form, draped on an equally bare Sakura.

Shirou's Caster just blinked for a moment before automatically pulling her Master up and towards her to analyze his condition. She sighed in relief as the incoming information was processed. _Just shock due to the gradient. He hasn't lost too much in total._

Her eyes narrowed unconsciously as the scan confirmed there was no real physical damage despite that. It was better than the alternative of course, but e _ven Kuro with her Skill wouldn't be able to take that much without **some** after-effect on a normal human._

"How did you-?" she asked a shocked Sakura while lowering Shirou onto the small bed in front of her. She reconsidered her question. "Rather, what happened?"

"Um," the other girl replied softly after recovering. "Well he said something like _'Take all my-'_ -"

"Stop right there," Sasaku cut her off. "Way too much information." She threw the bed's lone thin blanket over to cover its two occupants.

"Ok, I guess I understand what happened," she muttered. _Some sort of resonance effect that greatly amplified the transfer flow beyond expectations. They must be super-compatible I guess._

"Will he be alright?" the purple-haired magus asked simply.

"Yes, he'll be back up in due time." Sakura giggled for some reason, but then Sasaku remembered that she might have the right tool to handle Kuro. "Can I borrow your Rider's blindfold?"

"Huh?" Sakura blinked at the oddness of the request before catching on. "I take it you encountered Rin's Archer? Oh. Did you get the information on geasses?"

"She got the drop on me while I was looking," the Caster explained, noticing that Sakura took out the requested Noble Phantasm out of 'nowhere'. _It's like she also has an Armory?_ "I plan to use this to keep her down until I find it."

"Ok," the magus agreed while handing the purple item over. "By the way, can you er, move Rin to the next room? In the moment I... forgot she was here."

Sasaku turned and realized that, indeed, they were in the room where she and Rin had been held earlier.

 _Are you kidding me?_

* * *

(Sakura)

"Can you actually use it?" Sakura asked curiously. After Caster had brought Rin to the adjacent room - _fifty-fifty chance she actually ended up going into Shinji's_ \- she returned to double-check on Shirou's condition and pick up the mentioned Noble Phantasm which she had put down for the task.

"Oh this?" Sasaku glanced at the item in her hand. "Your Rider is Medusa right? And this is one of her Noble Phantasms, Gorgon Breaker? I can tell since you did use it on me earlier."

"It is, but can you use it? There's reasons why _I_ could, but..."

"Hmm, no problem," Sasaku replied. "If I know enough about it, I will be able to use it, provided you don't mind lending it to me for a while."

"Er, ok then."

Sakura just lifted the edge of the blanket and scooted in, pressing her body against Shirou's. "Come back when you've found that book or whatever else we need."

"Uh huh. Well, take care."

* * *

l

* * *

(Tohsaka house, Summoning Room)

(Later that morning, still before sunrise)

(Sakura)

Eying the statue-like Saber with the crossed arms and large sword on his back who was leaning on one of the walls watching an apparently sleeping Kuro, Sakura's attention was immediately drawn to the book that Caster held out to her. "Is this all?"

"There weren't the reagents here to make a geas scroll," she explained quickly. "But this is probably better anyway. More flexible. Rather than a contract with specific terms, it gives you the ability to give commands as you want."

Sasaku glanced at a somewhat recovered Rin who was sitting on the floor next to Kuro with a frown and raised her voice slightly so the red magus could hear. "It has limitations, by the way. The most direct compared to say Command Spells compelling Servants is you can't command them to kill themselves or similar things. The binding is less powerful than a scroll, but well, a human _probably_ can't free themselves regardless."

"Can you command someone to **not** attempt to free themselves?" Sakura asked the obvious question.

"I imagine so, yes."

The two of them looked at one another for a moment before Sasaku added. "I want to get back home, and I'm sure you also want to discuss that additional 'business' you haven't gotten to yet."

Sakura nodded. "Are you ok just leaving everything though?" Doing so meant anyone, such as Grandfather could just walk in and take it.

"I haven't left behind anything of value," Sasaku said slowly. Rin made some sort of strangled yelp as she continued, "I basically emptied everything, not that there was much by the way, into my Armory."

"Can you actually read it all?" Sakura began to think that she, like Shirou, should ask the Caster to teach her magecraft. _It's almost certainly better than anything I've 'learned' so far._

"Oh, I'm processing it as we speak," Sasaku said as if it was a foregone conclusion. "First sweep suggests there's not much that's particularly new, though it will improve my efficiency in some areas. Unfortunately while there's some formalcraft, I didn't find anything convenient for mana transferal."

Sakura flushed pink. "I don't really have a problem with it though..." she muttered, low enough that Rin couldn't hear. Though, given the other magus did use Reinforcement, maybe she could. Sasaku, though, just shook her head.

"We have several sources of magical energy, and several Servants who happen to have different use needs, and at different times too. It would be ideal to have some sort of central system for gathering, storing and releasing all that energy."

She glanced at Rin, who appeared to be listening intently. "Like the system used for the Grail... why doesn't Tohsaka, one of the three Founding Families, have anything on it?"

"It was stolen," Rin replied sullenly after both Sasaku and Sakura stared at her for a moment. "Whoever killed my father in the previous Grail War also stole a great deal of the most important documents and artifacts."

"Anyway," Sasaku said when Rin fell silent, "I have basically everything else in my Armory, so we can leave whenever." She gave a significant look at the spell book in Sakura's hand. "Do what you have to quickly. Every moment Shirou-nii and I are outside of the Realm, we're basically throwing away energy for nothing."

Sakura's expression turned stony for a second just before Shirou's head appeared around the door. "Shinji's up and he's asking why we're all in Tohsaka's house." She blushed, ran over and quickly distracted him, while the two of them went downstairs to the living room, before he noticed what was going on inside.

Not long after Sasaku followed them. "The Church will take care of any Servantless Masters," she volunteered.

Sakura brightened upon thinking about the rather reserved priest who nevertheless was a good listener. They had not met since she became a Master, as he was the Overseer who had to remain neutral. "That will keep him safe until everything blows over."

"He's not really a Master though?" Shirou asked, but his Servant just held up a hand. "Will be hard to tell since he didn't do registrations. He wouldn't know if Zouken was the Matou Master, and both Sakura and Shinji would be equally unlikely to him. And, he's lost a hand which, while unfortunate for him, might have had the Command Seals."

He nodded. Sakura frowned, remembering what Zouken had done in the last Grail War.

"We'll have Saber quickly deliver him and return, then we'll go to my place. _All_ of us. _Together_." The emphasis was clear. The two girls nodded in unison.

"I have one concern though," Sakura said firmly. "Is Saber's Master going to show herself? She's not... oh no, don't tell me _Taiga_ is a magus too."

 ** _"Wait, what?!"_**

Everyone just stared blankly into space for a moment at the thought. Sasaku and Shirou recovered first, though.

"Oh, he's actually-" Sasaku started, pointing to Shirou.

"It's her," Shirou said in about half the time, indicating his Servant.

"Huh?" both of them said at once, though for different reasons.

"It's complicated." Sasaku summed up, sighing.

* * *

(Shirou)

"Sorry, we figured out that my Command Spells probably won't work on him, and he wasn't getting any magical energy from me," Shirou explained apologetically. "Since the only other person present at the Summoning was you, we just figured..."

"Eh." Sasaku just shrugged.

"How is that even possible?" Sakura asked in clear confusion. "You mean Servants can be Masters?"

"Most fathers are also sons. Caster Servants are magi, so it's possible. It's _also_ possible the Grail system was confused because Shirou was summoning a Servant despite already having one, so it pushed the contract to me, who did not have a Servant. Anyway, you have stuff to get done upstairs. Can you ask Saber to come down?"

"Right." Sakura quickly left, still holding her spell book. Sasaku looked at Shirou.

"You have questions about my magecraft." It wasn't a question, but he nodded anyway. "It doesn't add up, even if we're both magi. I already have you, and you shouldn't qualify, why would the two of us even _be able to_ summon a Servant, together or not?"

She motioned for him to sit down. "I explained to you how my Alchemy (Exchange) Sorcery Attribute works, right?"

"Yeah, you can perform mysteries that you know. How is that special though, if you already know how to perform it..."

"Hm, hmm..." Sasaku smiled, switching to explanation mode. "Does knowing how to use a gun, and how a gun works, allow you to shoot someone with your _bare hands_?"

 _Ah._ It must have showed on his face. She continued, "Actually, you do have a point though, apparently not only does the Grail perform a powerful and general Wish-Granting, the Grail system was created with the help of the Einzbern. They possess a Wish-Granting Sorcery Attribute, and can actually perform mysteries that they do _not_ know."

"Wait a second, why use the Grail at all then?"

"That's an interesting question, and as an outsider I wonder at that. My best guess is it's a double-stage process like a rocket, where they realize the Grail, then use the Grail to realize something even higher."

* * *

l

* * *

 _ **Notes:**_  
No detailed discussions in Matou house, at least without a serious privacy Field. Zouken _is_ listening.


	28. Quadruple Alliance

**Quadruple Alliance**

* * *

(Sometime earlier that night)

(Shirou)

What woke me up? I blink in the room's warm darkness _Wait a second, the outside light easily enters Sakura's room_ as the sound of someone moving in the silk sheets _Oh yeah, this is definitely Sasaku's room back wherever home is_.

"Dear, are you awake? It's a little early for it..." A familiar voice muses just a little to the side, very close to my ear. "Hmm, I was sure you'd be out for the night."

 _I was in the middle of my own 'moment' why am I seeing this? Hold on a second, what did happen, I don't remember falling asleep..._

"Cat? Are you playing hard to get?" He sounds amused, but doesn't make a move. "Maybe I'm just muttering stupidly to myself..."

 _Yes, please leave me alone. Oh wait, it's actually fading to black. Thank goodness._

* * *

I blink and look down at the massive road, many tens of stories below the balcony I am standing on. The light generously streaming upwards through the thoroughfare is only surpassed by the glittering scintillating coming off all the massive buildings lining it.

There is no sun overhead, not that the light of one would even be noticed. The shining pillars reaching up into the sky send even more upwards.

 _If this is what the outside is like, it must have been quite a piece of work to get their room pitch black._

"There you are," my awaited friend appears in the corridor behind me. "Early too."

"What? I'm not on the clock today, why shouldn't I be early?" I reply with a smile while turning to face her. "Husband says hi."

"Hmm," was all she said in response, turning around after reaching me. "Well let's get this part over with. I have to do the processing myself, you know."

"Security clearance?"

She nods briefly. "I hope she'll forgive me, if we ever meet."

I laugh while following her into a room with the scanning instruments already set up and in standby. "It's necessary, I'd never think otherwise."

"So you've said a few times. Well you'd know best, though most people wouldn't take kindly to having bits of them removed regardless of necessity. Ok, sit down here. It'll probably take a couple days to process, but approval from oversight will probably run longer than that. Even more if they demand a redo."

"Yeah, well..." I shrug. "I'd say sorry for all the work, but you've been grinning like it's the best challenge ever."

"Entirely true." She looks over several diagnostics, nodding to herself while going over a mental checklist. "Any last, well final words to your copy-to-be?"

I just laugh. "Why would you ask me what I would want to tell myself? It's already in my memory."

"It's for posterity," she countered.

"Fine, let me think of something ' _for posterity'_ then. Here: Do your best, you only exist for this one thing, so don't worry too much, even if you die. And don't mind the missing stuff, you already know you don't need to know it. Good luck!"

"You're a jerk." The two of us share a laugh. "Anyway I'll put you under while the scan runs."

"Just remember this is random-access only. No permanent copies, wipe everything once it's transmitted."

"I wouldn't forget that. One second now."

* * *

I blink at the man, no magus, in front of me. He returns my confusion with some disappointment.

"Your name and class?" he asks after a moment.

"... Sasaku, Caster."

* * *

l

* * *

(Sakura's room, early morning)

Shirou opened his eyes and sighed in relief to himself as they took in the sight of Sakura's rather bare room. _I'm definitely going to have to ask Sasaku about all that._

The next thing he noticed was Sakura's nude form, with her back pressed against his chest as they shared the one blanket on the bed. _I still can't remember what happened at the end of last night. That can't be good._

There was a soft knock on the door, and Shirou's connection to his Servant gave away the visitor's identity. _Ah crap, what's she going to think if she sees us like this?!_ Faced with a total lack of options, he settled on simply pretending to be asleep. With any luck, Sakura would handle anything so that Sasaku would leave, none the wiser.

 _Actually, wouldn't she be able to tell I'm in here, if **I** could detect her presence?_

Sasaku knocked again, waking up Sakura. While Shirou dutifully played possum, his partner got up, unapologetically stole the blanket, and draped herself in it before going to answer the door.

"Did you find it?" was all she asked, after opening the door a crack to confirm who had woken her.

"Yes, come over to Tohsaka's house when you can. Just go to where all the Servants are."

"I'll be there in a bit once Shirou's back up."

"Please don't delay," was all Sasaku said before leaving. _Did she just get stabbed or something?_

Sakura closed the door and walked back over to where Shirou was, and leaned over him. "Um Senpai, it's time to wake up." He looked up at her, realizing that she had unconsciously balled up the blanket under her bare chest.

"Yeah I'm awake."

Her gaze lingered on his uncovered self for a moment before, blushing, she quickly busied herself in getting fresh clothes from her small wardrobe. "You'll have to wear what you had on yesterday..."

"No problem." Shirou looked and found the garments on the floor a short distance from the bed, neatly folded. _Neat as always I guess._ "Say, Sakura?"

"What is it?" Hearing the seriousness in his voice, the now fully-clothed girl turned around to face him.

"For the rest of the War, how about joining m- us at our place?" Shirou paused for a bit to consider how bes to explain the offer. "Well, my Caster has issues whenever she's outside her Bounded Field there."

"That's a great idea," she said as the two of them left her room and headed downstairs. Shinji was no where to be seen, though some rather fresh looking blood was. Saber was also not in evidence. "I haven't been over for a while now."

Shirou simply nodded. Sasaku had warned him earlier that entering a magus' Bounded Field was generally rather dangerous even if you _thought_ you knew their capabilities, but somehow Sakura's easy acceptance didn't surprise him at this point.

They made their way over to the Tohsaka house without incident, though Sakura insisted on latching onto his arm.

* * *

(Tohsaka house, sitting room)

Shinji's right arm ended in a clean, tightly-wrapped bandage that clearly showed the lack of an attached hand. Well, when he last saw the ex-Master, it was already gone though.

"Can you watch him for a bit?" Sakura asked shyly. "I'll be upstairs. Don't touch anything, I don't know if Sasaku-chan cleared out all the traps." _It's pretty obvious you two are trying to keep me in the dark about something, which means you expect I'd disapprove of it._

It was clear, though, that Sasaku had probably gone over the whole house with a fine-toothed comb and looted everything of mystical value. _I wonder if there's a limit to what she can cram in that Armory?_

* * *

(A while later)

With the excuse of a conscious (and still rather upset) Shinji, but also because sharing his company at this point was **not** worth it, Shirou went upwards right to where he felt his Servant was. As he turned the corner and poked his head into the door, he saw...

 _A blindfolded Kuro and Rin being guarded by Saber, Sakura holding some sort of book, Sakura's chest as she's **jumping at me**?!_

(A moment later)

 _Huh, Rin really hates that priest but apparently he's good friends with Sakura._

Shirou hadn't forgotten what she had failed to keep him from seeing though. His best guess was that they were intending to use something, all but certainly a geas scroll, to allow them to keep hold of both Rin and Kuro at one go.

 _That's quite a coup to pull off though, since we'll have four out of seven Servants, even assuming the other three are all working together._ The tally was very good - Caster, Saber, Archer, Rider.

Wait a moment, doesn't this make the problem even worse than when it was just two of them? About the Grail's wish...

* * *

That _was_ on his mind to ask, but then they got sidetracked by the question of who held Saber's contract. Well, it was true that the swordsman seemed less than enthusiastic about being a girl's Servant, even if she was also a Servant, but still...

They did, however get on the topic of the Grail somehow, and by some stroke of luck, Sasaku let something slip. Perhaps not slip, as much as simply revealing a bit of her thought process.

 _So the Grail might be more flexible than just six dead servants for one Master-Servant's pair wishes._

Her attempt to gather allies made more sense. _She said the World might see her building things as a threat, I thought she meant that Realm Field, but actually... an alliance of four Servants, huh. Does she intend to crack the War wide open?_

Rin might have some objections to that. Oh wait.

* * *

The group that left Rin's house just before sunrise would be a very interesting one to any curious onlooker. Rather than make things any worse for Rin, Shirou played the part of a _surprised-to-see-you-glad-you-could-join-us_ friend, as though his Servant and new ally had not together just looted her house and used magical contracts on her.

Saber took Shinji and disappeared for a while to deliver him to Kotomine at the church, returning immediately afterwards. Before they left, an un-blindfolded and very much still energetic Kuro insisted on Sasaku giving her some mana as 'compensation,' for something she didn't specify, wouldn't take no for an answer, and insisted that then-and-there was just perfect for getting it. Which she did despite Sasaku's ineffectual protests.

Shirou noticed that Saber merely watched without any reaction whatsoever, which meant that Sasaku had presumably told him that Kuro's actions were not aggressive in nature. _Or rather, they **are,** just not as a threat._

From her position at his side, Sakura frowned as though thinking about intervening, but did nothing. Rin, who was trying to look everywhere besides the two Servants locking lips, sent a glare Shirou's way. Or probably Sakura's now that he thought about it.

 _I was thinking, 'isn't she being kind of obvious about it?' but actually... Sakura's just showing off, right?_ It was surprising to think of the demure girl doing something like that, but there it was. Or maybe she was just clingy.

After that, they _finally_ left. Watching as the Archer-Master pair walked side-by-side with Saber close behind them really brought to mind their meeting, now only about ten hours ago...

* * *

l

* * *

(Emita house, work shed out back)

(About ten hours ago, ie: Saturday evening, before Shinji and Rider showed up)

"What's this?" Shirou asked, hefting the long Japanese sword his Servant had brought out and asked him to hold. It was amazingly heavy and much longer than the shinai he had some experience with.

"Your version of a two-handed sword, I guess?" she replied, showing she knew less than he did. "Well I'm guessing you have some affinity with the Saber class, and Eastern swordsmen tend to have less of the energy-guzzling holy swords, so..."

The two of them looked around the shed. Sasaku had prepared, refurbished really, a summoning circle that now glowed in the center. However, after clearing all the clutter, she had proceeded to take out a very large number of Japanese and Chinese swords, dropping them all over the room to serve as a "catalyst".

"Does putting swords everywhere mean this is more likely to summon a Saber?"

"I have no idea, but since I know about the concept of catalysts, maybe they can help me use my Alchemy to perform the mystery of 'summoning a Servant using a suitable catalyst'."

"Does it really work that way?"

"Your Command Seals didn't have to do with me, hopefully that means a Servant slot was reserved for you. Any little problems, again, hopefully I have enough magical energy to use Alchemy to cover for it."

Taking out her first sword, Sasaku stood next to him. They clasped their free hands together.

"Ok, this should be the correct incantation. Repeat after me: ..."

* * *

The feel of magical energy being sucked towards the ritual circle and disappearing.

A flash of light, blinding but fading rapidly.

The swordsman who appeared cut a tall and stern figure, carrying a weapon much like the one Shirou was just able to hold on to with one hand. He looked at the two of them with some suspicion, realizing that the room now held two Servants, but only one Master. His composure never broke though.

"Saber-class Servant, Sasaki Kojirou." He turned to Sasaku before continuing. "I ask of you, are you my-"

"Oh!" Sasaku let her weapon dematerialize in a green shimmer before pushing Shirou forward. "Emiya Shirou is **our** Master for this War."

He frown indicated a grudging acceptance.

"We are going to be attacked soon," Shirou said to his new, second, Servant. "Will you lend us your strength, to protect our Realm?"

Kojirou smiled. "Only, show me a worthwhile enemy."

* * *

l

* * *

 ** _Notes:_**

Yes Shirou doesn't remember because he blacked out.

They use his Class instead of name because he is well-known enough that a name would give away his "abilities".

Sometimes Shirou's conclusions aren't the same as Sasaku's. In part because he knows very little about the Grail system (and magecraft in general), so it's like a black box for him, compared to everyone else who knows what it 'should' do.

Also yeah, he's playing "implausibly oblivious" to make things a bit easier on Rin. Whether stacking everyone together in one house is a good idea depends on the situation, I guess.


	29. The True Self (Battle)

**The True Self (Battle)**

* * *

(Shirou)

"One moment," Sasaku said suddenly. "We probably shouldn't be walking about with us three Servants out in the open."

"You think it'll scare the others into ganging up on us, is that it?" Shirou asked, getting a nod in return. _Sasaku really has to deal with her minimum range, and since I want both Kuro and Saber nearby, it's best to be able to keep an eye on Kuro._

"Fine. Hm, Saber, you go into spirit form, stay with us. Sasaku, you too, but move to overwatch." The two Servants quickly disappeared, signaling their agreement.

Sakura, still happily claiming his arm, started pulling him forward, and soon the rest of the group, now smaller to the naked eye, began moving forward again.

"By the way, Shirou-nii, there was something I was supposed to tell you," Kuro spoke up into the awkward silence, apart from the sound of walking, of course. The little Archer didn't seem at all put out by Rin's or Sakura's disapproval as she quickly took Sasaku's now vacant space on Shirou's other side.

"Huh, what's this about?"

"Well I don't know myself," she admitted easily. "But anyway I only have the message - _Don't join the Counter Force_ is what it was."

"That's for me?" Shirou wondered a bit about that. Sasaku had mentioned to him that the Counter Force was something like Alaya's _serious cleanup_ death squad, specifically in the context of avoiding being 'cleaned up'. "Wouldn't you mean Sasaku, since she's a Heroic Spirit but not in the Throne of Heroes?"

"That's what was confusing me," Kuro said after thinking about it. "But I remembered it when I saw _you_ , not Sasaku."

"Hmph," Rin scoffed. "Why would Alaya want someone like _him_ to be a Guardian of humanity? Emiya-kun's a handyman, not some hero of justice." Sakura turned a frown on her, and Rin took the hint to fall silent.

Shirou, on the other hand, had a couple of guesses. _Either it's related to that Noble Phantasm I have, which Rin thinks is Sasaku's, or it's related to what Sasaku was doing with my magic circuits. She did say her own magecraft is foreign to this World, so if I **was** able to learn it, that might be enough cause._

Outwardly, though, he only said to Kuro, "Tohsaka has a point, but if it makes you feel better I promise not to sign up for anything like that."

"Just watch yourself," she muttered, toying with the rather conservative skirt that Rin had gotten out from storage for her to wear. "It isn't like Alaya will just say ' _Sign here to contract your soul to be my dog for beyond eternity_ ' or give you any warning, quite the opposite."

"Wait a second," Rin said suddenly. "For you or Sasaku who have the power but not legend, that makes sense, but for an ordinary human of the modern age, Alaya would have to give them a significant power boost. You're literally talking about taking a person to Heroic Spirit status from nothing."

Kuro just looked at the ground sullenly. "I don't know either way. Sometimes it's better to simply accept returning to the Root rather than staying on. Unless," she looked around for the non-existant Sasaku, "unless your soul actually isn't compatible with the Root and will simply disappear or something. Even so, not existing can sometimes be a better option."

This side conversation caused Shirou's mouth to abruptly dry. "If you don't know what to wish for, ask for power," Sasaku had advised him. "It's useful for any number of possible objectives."

It was logical, but if he carelessly asked the Grail for 'power' then it could do so cheaply by selling him to Alaya. After all, the Grail was able to bring Servants out for the War, a normal human would be nothing to it.

"Hah, well if you do happen to become a Guardian, then I'll be sure to summon you sometime," Rin laughed. "And then I'll-"

"No." Sakura abruptly cut the other magus off. "You will do **nothing** of the sort."

"What? You can't-" Rin reconsidered her words. "I wasn't being serious!"

"I know. Keep it that way."

"Speaking of legends and summoning," Kuro said while studiously scanning the distance. "So you know, the _Grai_ l gave me the name Kuro. While I don't have a legend bearing a True Name, I did have a name before, but..."

"But what?" Shirou said, after realizing that the explanation was aimed at him, rather than Rin. "Did you like the Grail's name better?"

"No, I wanted to make a clean break, be my own person. I know it's ironic, however-" she pointed as, ahead of them, a girl wearing a purple coat and sharply contrasting white hair and skirt appeared from around a corner. "Since our parents aren't here anymore, I didn't expect ' _me_ ' to also be here."

The newcomer didn't slow down or speed up as she strolled boldly towards them. Scanning the small group, she flashed a confident smile.

"Good morning, onii-chan and onee-chans. I'm-"

"Illyasviel von Einzbern." Kuro said flatly. "To think that 'me' in this world is a Master in the War. What would our parents think?"

Illya's smile vanished as she pointed a shaking finger at Kuro. "Berserker, kill her."

* * *

(Illya)

Kuro's weapons flashed into her hands as an armor-clad giant appeared between the two girls, a matching massive halberd in hand. Shirou instinctively pulled Sakura closer while backpedalling away from the about-to-commence battle.

The motion caught Illya's eye, but her attention was too tightly fixed on Kuro to give them any thought. _She's just a Servant, what does she know?!_

" _Cut her in two with Slash!_ " As instructed, Lu Bu shot forward, swinging his halberd in a tightly controlled arc centered on Kuro, who kicking backwards, blocked it by crossing both her swords so the swing would slide off.

The weapons met, Kuro was flung backwards through a combination of her own action and the momentum transferred from the blow, which also shattered both her swords. Though the shortswords were quickly replaced, Illya's Berserker ferociously pressed the attack.

"Hey, Saber, a little help?" she shouted after losing a second pair of swords. Lu Bu's reach and power were a devastating combination, but his Madness Enhancement meant Illya had to do the thinking for him on the battlefield sometimes. _Though he does have excellent combat instincts._

Certainly, his opponent was holding her own, if barely, with a clever mix of evasion and deflection but... " _She's can't do anything but bounce off. Switch to Thrust and skewer her._ "

Unless Lancer was blind, something had happened since Tohsaka's Servant clearly wasn't the tall woman with purple hair she had been told about. If she wasn't a Saber... Lancer was a known factor, as was Assassin, a Caster wouldn't resort to sword-fighting, so the red magus had pulled an Archer or Rider.

 _Wait a moment-!_

Lu Bu jabbed repeatedly as Kuro hurriedly dodged, but she was forced to block one of his attacks which sent her back in a predictable path. Berserker immediately got his point in line and charged forward.

"Hm. Go get a little range."

The suddenly appearing swordsman thrust his long sword at Lu Bu from the side, causing the giant to slow in order to parry the attack with the rear end of his halberd. However, he didn't lose focus and lunged at Kuro again, only to be once again held back by another precise thrust.

Kuro brought forth several copies of her swords and began throwing them from her position which was now safely outside of halberd range. _Definitely Archer._ Stepping back quickly so both his opponents were roughly in front of him, Lu Bu parried her swords as well as a couple more jabs from her allied Saber.

 _Who's commanding the Saber?_ Frustrated while watching the Archer-Saber pair deftly weave around, keeping Lu Bu on the back foot, she realized _It can't be the Matou... that means onii-chan must have this war's Saber._

 _So, he actually **is** a magus. _She frowned and gave a new order. " _Switch to Parrying and keep both of them tied down._ "

 _I'll have to catch Tohsaka and onii-chan myself, then..._

"We meet again, little lady." She turned to see a familiar blue Lancer off to the side, cheerfully waving his red spear at her. "What is it, Lancer?"

"Mind if I join in? A two-on-two pair battle seems interesting."

"Do what you want."

* * *

(Cu Chulainn)

He looked over at the fight. Einzbern's Berserker was doing quite well on his own, which meant joining in would definitely tip the scales. "Hope you don't mind me saying so, but Berserkers tend not to be good team players. Can you do something about that?"

"I can direct him to a target," she grumbled, clearly offended at the implication that she might have difficulties handling a Berserker. "You can take the Saber, right?"

"My thoughts exactly," he replied quickly before leaping into action. "Saber, let us-" Cu Chulainn stopped immediately to parry a deceptively quick cut that came flying his way.

"Right. To it then!"

* * *

l

* * *

(On a "nearby" rooftop)

(Sasaku)

" _That Lancer you warned about just showed up._ "

" _I saw,_ " was all she sent back. After "climbing" the building in spirit form, she returned to the physical world and began a scrying set up to prepare an overwatch position.

" _Shirou, tell Rin to tell Kuro to dodge in your direction on my count of three._ " " _Er, sure._ "

" _Saber, on the count of three, dodge backwards in the direction of the Masters._ " No reply, but doubtless he knew what to do.

 _Target area: Ground level, five blocks away._

"This is a day of judgment _,_ " " ** _One._** "

 _Adjusting for high angle shot. Heading set._

"See and hear, Behold and understand," " _ **Two.**_ "

 _Adjusting for expected minimum range. Speed set at ninety percent the speed of sound._

" **(Realm's Armory: Volley)** " " ** _Three._** "

She snapped her fingers, throwing out two sets of eighty-one spears each.

* * *

(Sasaki Kojirou)

Even without their link providing him a direction to work off, it was obvious what Caster was about to do. Even though she was "behind" them, as long as her position was sufficiently elevated then it would be a rather straightforward affair.

" _Three._ "

Abandoning his brief dance with Cu Chulainn, Kojirou slid backwards smoothly. Not jumping, that might put him in the way of the coming attack.

The Lancer made to close with him, then suddenly stopped and switched to a defensive stance. Seeing this, or perhaps due to battlefield instinct, a few feet away Lu Bu also stopped rather than chase Kuro and raised his halberd to protect his head.

Moments later, a rain of iron spears screamed into the battlefield shredding the road around the two unlikely allies. Cu Chulainn, undefeatable by projectiles as always, was completely unharmed while Lu Bu's armor might have gained a few scratches or dents at the most.

" _That didn't work._ "

There was no reply as he and Kuro immediately took off towards Shirou's group. Perhaps wary of more attacks, Lu Bu moved back in order to protect his Master. Lancer looked about to take up the pursuit before deciding against potentially having the tables turned on him by Kojirou and Kuro with Sasaku's support..

" _What's going on, keep shooting or they'll simply give chase._ "

" _You'll have to deal with that, sorry. I'm busy here._ "

" _What?_ " Every Servant had been accounted for, except " _Is it Assassin? Do you need help?_ "

* * *

(Sasaku)

She turned to regard the boy Servant who had appeared unannounced next to her, and was waiting for her reaction. "This might be a stupid question, but is your class Assassin?"

"No." He said, amused by her lack of surprise. "Archer."

"I see." The two of them just looked at one another after the deadpan reply.

Sasaku was hurriedly asking Sakura, through Shirou relaying, if her Rider could help out, since she wouldn't be able to provide support once if Berserker and Lancer caught up.

" _Sakura says she can't **'take out'** Rider, whatever that means._"

 _So much for that._

"My Master really screwed up," Archer said after the silence had stretched for a while. "Not two, or three, but **four** Servants together? That's a dangerous game you're playing."

Sasaku simply kept quiet, which he took as a request to elaborate. "The Grail System is supposed to require the souls of six Servants killed in the War, though since you're coalition-building, you either don't care or know otherwise."

There was little she could do, judging by the level of magical energy she could, easily given the distance, detect coming from him. And if provoked he could not only take her out but then turn the chase below into a very one-sided three on two mop up.

The other question though, was _how are there **two** Archers at the same time?_

"I take it you're the system's enforcer, then?" she asked finally. "I wondered if the system really expected a single priest to somehow keep Servants under control with just some rewards and manipulation."

"Heavens no," he laughed. "That would entail a Ruler class, who has no wishes. I definitely enjoy my human desires, if only to collect treasures."

"What do you want?" she said when, after a while, he prompted her to speak up.

"You." He laughed as her expression froze once she took in the answer. He grinned, before continuing. "Come now, you're quite one of a kind, quite literally too apparently."

 _He what? Damn, he must be some sort of king or so on, to try recruiting Heroic Spirits._ "You hardly know me," was all she said in as calm a tone as possible, only to be rebuffed. "But I do."

"Know you that is," he declared confidently. "Or at least better than you know yourself."

"You can read my mind," Sasaku muttered in confusion. "How is that possible, the format shouldn't be compatible..."

"I can't actually do **that** , though I can or close enough with most Servants," he explained with an air of carelessness. " **(Sha Naqba Imuru)** , have you heard of it?" The color draining from her face was all the answer needed.

 _Oh **no** , the actual Gilgamesh. Is standing a couple feet in front of me._ Even while her danger instincts were shifting into overdrive, Sasaku kept her tone deliberately casual. "Surely you already have innumerable more competent servants in your kingdom already."

"I wasn't looking at a sword or a horse, but a flower," he muttered with something approaching bashfulness. But it disappeared with his next line. "Won't you let me pluck you?"

"I-I still have a lot of responsibilities I can't just abandon," she pushed back at him, in a daze. "It would be wrong to just walk away..."

"Well, so be it," he sighed in disappointment. "There's always next time I suppose. Fine. Let's fight."

 _Ah. He's going to kill me._

* * *

l

* * *

 ** _Notes:_**

Feels like Illya orders Lu Bu's abilities (which he can't decide on his own due to Madness Enhancement) like it's a turn-based RPG battle or something. Like this is Fate Extra CCC.

l

Apparently his type is a "flower that blooms in the wild," and then according to himself in FGO My Room conversation lines, he likes women "calm and quiet". Welp.

I am now giggling while remembering the Prisma Illya chapter/episode (take your pick) where he calls Illya onee-chan and she totally goes wild and he says something like "Did anyone tell you that you're easily handled?"


	30. A Friendly Fight (Battle)

**A Friendly Fight (Battle)**

* * *

l

* * *

(On the run, somewhere between the Matou and Emiya houses, a little before dawn)

(Shirou)

"Why did your Servant have to provoke her," Shirou grumbled as the three Masters ran towards his house. While it seemed that neither Berserker or Lancer was coming after them, he wasn't going to bet on things staying that way. "And doesn't Lu Bu have that legend of the **Gate Halberd Shot**?

"I should hope he can't do precision shooting as a Berserker," Rin turned her head backwards to see her Archer covering their retreat. As for why a Servant calls anyone in the modern age ' _me_ ,' you'll have to ask her as I have no clue. They don't even look alike."

Sakura said nothing but kept running. She probably felt bad about not being able to have her Rider take to the field.

"Oh crap," he groaned after receiving an message from his Caster. "There's another Servant who's got Sasaku. Saber, get over there before he kills her and we're screwed."

Kojirou nodded and went down a side alley, probably to climb up the building while safely out of sight of any pursuer. Rin just looked at Shirou quizzically, "The last one, Assassin? Can she identify them?"

"She says it's Gilgamesh," he relayed, unaware of the significance in the King of Heroes' presence. Rin, however, was and looked thunderstruck.

"What good is running to your place if someone's got the Caster who controls all the defenses?" Sakura asked. Shirou frowned, before realizing something in the middle of coming up with an answer.

" _Saber, change of plans, rejoin us at top speed._ "

"It's alright," he said after taking a breath. "I can summon her to me via Command Spell. Best if we're already within her Realm, and the enemy immediately charges in... She can-"

"Blow them away with spears?" Sakura muttered with a look of distaste, probably because her Rider had been the first to get hit by that. "But she was shooting them just now and it did nothing."

"It's more effective under the ideal conditions she can set up in my home," Shirou explained. "At least I'm hoping that it will be enough. Ideally our opponents either slow down or come at us piecemeal."

"Why do you think they're less able to run than we are?" Rin asked.

"Well, Berserker shows up first, Kuro ends up provoking his Master somehow, and only after a while does Lancer show up. If the other Servant was already there to stop Sasaku, why only after she shot off a volley of spears? Sure, it didn't do much, but the surprise attack is the most dangerous."

"But they immediately defended against it, weren't they warned?"

"Pretty sure that's just Cu Chulainn's **(Protection From Arrows)** skill," Kuro said suddenly. "A Skill like that makes any ranged attack look bad. And I guess Lu Bu's armor is just that good."

"They're just mundane iron spears with a Reinforced tip," Shirou explained. "Though I have no idea what that actually means."

"I might be able to up her firepower, then." Kuro glanced to the side as Kojirou reappeared and joined them. "But I will need some mana to pull it off."

* * *

l

* * *

(A certain rooftop)  
(Gilgamesh)

"Don't worry," he said in a reassuring tone after seeing Sasaku freeze like a spooked animal. "It's just a fight, not a deathmatch. You already fought Lancer, didn't you?"

It didn't work on her. "That's easy enough for you to say, seeing you can blow through me with one swing. And Lancer's lance went into my heart."

"Fine, sparring then. Pure technique, swords. Your pick." he amended before bringing out a number of swords to show her. "I'll use one that's just like yours."

"If you insist," she replied with a caution that was rather endearing. A long narrow-bladed sword shimmered into her hand. After a moment, she flourished a left hand as a much smaller dagger appeared in it. "Do they use rapier and dagger in Uruk?"

"Hmph." Searching through his treasury he took out a pair of weapons similar to hers. "Why wouldn't I have the original thrust-oriented one-handed sword and off-hand parrying device?"

She only took a stance in response. _Left forward, a defensive stance huh?_

As Gilgamesh tried to circle to her right, so that any defense would have further to travel, she abruptly thrust at his hand. _Too slow._ Raising his hand and angling a short cut, he used his own blade to push hers to the side, but Sasaku withdrew almost as soon as the weapons made contact.

 _Though her point was further back, the advantage of surprise might have allowed it to work. If I had tried to parry with my left, anyway._

Stepping quickly in the opposite direction, he sent a probing jab towards her left shoulder. The point got very close before Sasaku trapped it with her dagger. Tried to anyway, as it simply left the same way it came in.

The two of them pulled apart in the same tempo. A brief flurry of attacks, each quickly withdrawn when a defense was clearly ready for it.

 _More like dancing than a battle._

Gilgamesh found the exchange rather amusing. _At first I was thinking if she was foolishly trying to find a type I didn't have, but it seems she knows how to hold her own with this._

Of course, since he hadn't been lying when he mentioned being unable to read her mind, he didn't know her choice was because a clean thrust was very much less likely to kill her outright than any number of cuts. Though, since he had no intention of killing her, the possibility hadn't occurred to him.

The other reason might be that Sasaku was frequently cutting with her own sword, on the defense, due to it being easier to aim for the tip of Gilgamesh's advancing weapon. Despite that, it made for quite a tight guard, as her sword encountered his well away from her body, and timing a move backwards with the parry meant he wouldn't be able to get his point back in line and attack without having to over-commit, due to the distances involved.

"You know," Gilgamesh said after a while of this, "Your defense is much more efficient and... elegant compared to Altri- Alto-, uh Artoria."

"Who's that?" she replied. Neither side was really conversing in earnest. It was more like two people sleep-talking to one another, so focused were they on the next attack and defense and riposte attempt.

"Artoria Pendragon. You know... the King of Britain?"

"Oh. I thought all the legends went by Arthur."

"They do, apparently the Saber I met was from before all that."

"How does someone become a Heroic Spirit before they were a hero?"

"Ask yourself that," Gilgamesh replied cheekily. "But honestly, it seems she had some fame as the Princess Knight before becoming the King of Knights. Anyway, definitely not the later Arthur, since she openly wears a dress on the battlefield."

"Hmm, this is all well and good, but..." she flashed a half-mocking smile back at him. "In the end, all I hear is you talking about some other girl... how should I feel about that?"

He refused to take the bait. "Like you have have any problem with it."

 _She seems to constantly default to angling the blade upwards... used to fighting people taller than her? We're currently about the same height though._

"Just because I'm aware all you ancient kings have a harem doesn't mean I want to be in one."

"I don't have one, this is the ' _me_ ' before all that, just like - well you get the idea."

 _Cutting repeatedly must come from the earlier periods in rapier dueling._ He realized that, that being the case, he actually had a slight range advantage as her weapon was still somewhat of a cutter rather than a later model of all-out thruster. _But is she actually aware of that?_

"Enough of that, how does this age compare to your own Age of Gods?" he asked, wanting to get around to the question before she ran off or got summoned away by Command Spell. He probably had until her Master and the others reached her Workshop area.

"I'm not from any Age of the Gods. I believe my home time would count as the **future** , but developments are in no way parallel so that means very little."

"But your entire civilization's population are immortal?" Finding that out had surprised him. However, despite that, her people had apparently not degenerated into decadence and weakness.

 _Perhaps there is a way forwards for humanity, rather than trying to reset back to an earlier age._

Even if he might have agreed with his older selves about modern humanity, it was easier for him to think of it more as an immature child, rather than a hopeless adult. _Or maybe that's because I've been taking care of children too much lately._

"Yes, though I doubt Alaya would think of them as human, even if it acknowledges we're people. The World is similarly likely to be unappreciative of plans involving breaking it up for raw materials, or even 'merely' radically altering its structure. Though I'll add that is hardly necessary." At this point they were really just chatting while poking lazily at one another.

"I would probably be similarly unappreciative as I plan for _myself_ to take over everything. Which does include you." This didn't provoke any real reaction from her, though perhaps it was just too direct and thus obvious.

"I hadn't heard. In what ways exactly?"

"Naturally, all the ways," he grinned and prepared to charge at almost at a crouch in order to go beneath her rather high defenses. "Emphasis on **all**."

Sasaku's eyes widened as Gilgamesh came in fast and low. Adjusting her angle of attack, she hurriedly thrust downwards in order to block his advance.

Both blades reached out to their opponent.

Gilgamesh caught Sasaku's blade with his dagger.

She trapped the point of his weapon just a short distance away from her left side.

He decided to swing his left arm out, forcing her right arm arm to follow her sword away. The turning would free his blade to move forward just a little bit for the victory.

* * *

(Sasaku)

She froze as Gilgamesh caught and flung her riposte to the side, snapping off the last hand's breath or so the tip. _That was supposed to be a good defensive rapier_ she thought in surprise. Gilgamesh's own rapier practically vibrated as it shook free, sliding forward to bite into her side, drawing blood.

Both sides froze as they assessed the situation. Though Sasaku's blade was now free, it was also much shorter and could at most try to cut Gilgamesh's arm - however he could easily pull back before it connected.

"Ah, it's your victory," she commented almost idly while dropping her broken weapon to the ground to signal her defeat. "Though it hardly seems like 'pure technique' would break that on a parry."

After a moment Gilgamesh put away his sword. "Well that's that," he said, though frowning while doing so. "Before you go, a few things."

"Hm." Truth be told, regardless of what he had earlier, Sasaku had been expecting it to end in Gilgamesh kidnapping her or something similar. _I guess he isn't **that** kind of ancient king? I really lucked out on superpowered tyrants to run into, apparently._

The first thing he did was hand her a pair of glasses? "Your friend's Servant will probably find this useful, I think she'd be _blind_ without it." She simply nodded once it was clear he was referring to Rider. "And tell your friend that _George_ says hi."

"Will do." She simply put the gift away in her Armory, eyeing the giver as he sidled up to her.

"And this is a reward. For a technical victory," he motioned for her to lean down a bit. At first she thought he wanted to whisper something to her, and so was taken quite by surprise when instead he lightly kissed her on the cheek.

"What, is that a reward for me or _you_?" she remarked in a teasing tone that only seemed to amuse him.

"It is what it is," Gilgamesh grinned with a mix of confident cuteness. "Especially since I happen to know that the **next** time we meet, you will be _begging_ me to make you mine."

"Um... er, if I am, I'm sure I'll do so as many times and as many ways as you please." Sasaku wasn't really sure what to make of that. The King of Heroes did have an astoundingly high Clairvoyance after all. _Though I'm not sure if that was supposed to be a warning or an invitation._

"Look forward to it. Later." With that he simply disappeared.

* * *

(Gilgamesh)

He laughed to himself while leaving behind a very quiet Caster. Though she hadn't reacted to the surprise kiss, the next part did leave her spluttering, no rather she did freeze if only for a moment. _She must think very fast._

It did give some evidence that she wasn't some form of AI from elsewhere though. _There's a lot of **weird** stuff out there, especially beyond the reach of Gaia and the Root._

Though, come to think of it, it wasn't like him to abuse _any_ foreknowledge of the future, especially one that wasn't particularly clear or pressing. _Hmph, well what's done is done._

Before returning, he would make a brief detour to see the System's progress towards realizing the Grail. It might have gotten blasted by Artoria in the last War, but all that energy and the evil in it didn't just disappear. Being re-collected would explain the extremely quick inter-War cycle this time around. If only he could access the System's self-analysis routines... but since he wasn't a Ruler it was left to his direct observation.

Speaking of analysis, she hadn't noticed, but when he had replaced his sword in the treasury, Gilgamesh had also taken with it a decent enough sample of her blood. A magus should know that items such as that, or even a little hair, might be used to great effect for any number of things. _At least, it should yield more than just remotely scanning her with my Noble Phantasm._

Though the park he was approaching was a rather ghastly place thanks to the earlier destruction, largely repaired, and the lingering curse, still festering, he felt happy at the thought of solving a new mystery.

 _Definitely **all** the ways, huh?_

* * *

l

* * *

 ** _Notes:_**  
I feel he is classier as a child. How ironic. Though as the person himself might say "In Uruk, this is already plenty to be a full-fledged King."  
That said, I tend to treat Gil and Sasaku as looking about the same age of 15 or so, so younger than Sakura, but older than Kuro. Maybe Illya is also around their range, but she's a homunculus and they tend to look a bit 'different' to people apparently.

There is an alien that's a Dead Apostle Ancestor? And though it's in the future, of course there's all those AIs in the Mooncell Automaton.


	31. Clean Escapes (Battle)

**Clean Escapes (Battle)**

* * *

l

* * *

(For reference, on day 4 evening was the battle against Rider, this was also when Rider got shot by Sasaku and then took her captive.)

(This is between day 4 and 5, the sun is sort of rising at this point)

* * *

l

* * *

(Illyasviel)

Looking off into the distance as though she could still see the retreating trio of Masters, the homuluncus considered her options. Having any one of the Servants chase them was asking for a deadly two-on-one loss, assuming that Lancer's 'friend' had actually done something about the third, shooter, Servant. But sending both means being one spear away from death which was quite unappealing.

 _I **could** have Lu Bu use Shoot, but it's impossible to command him to be accurate with it. Currently he can only use a massive blast..._ Killing everyone would complete the Einzbern head's cover-up, defeating the point of targeting Tohsaka in the first place.

"Well," she commented in a frustrated tone to Lancer, "You seem to have been confused in the information you gave me about their _capabilities_. Care to explain?"

Cu Chulainn eyed Lu Bu before replying. "Well it seems the woman I saw must have been..." He thought over all the things. "We already know about Lancer, Berserker and Assassin. That swordsman was Saber. This leaves us with Rider, Archer and Caster. Of those three, Tohsaka summoned last, Archer."

Illya, who had concluded similarly but for different reasons. Kirei was **definitely** holding back some useful information he had access to as Overseer, that was certain. "So the woman you saw, and Saber, means both Matou Sakura and Emiya Shirou are Masters."

 _What a mess._ But it got worse.

"Yes, before I left the church, that Matou kid, Shinji, said that his sister Sakura had stolen his Rider. On the other hand, that attack with spears, I've a good idea who that is, and she's a little girl about your apparent age, not a tall woman."

"So we've seen two Servants, and you're aware of another two. Meanwhile... wait a moment, then who was your 'friend'? There's too many Servants here."

"Oh. Er, he's a neutral party."

" _Neutral_ like Kotomine is, you mean." She let that remark hang for a moment.

"Sort of, Kirei has trouble making him do anything but take care of children. All this means is he has some other agenda being out here."

 _Great, that priest even has a Ruler in the background. And he's **still** pulling all this?_

It was time to start clearing the field a little. First of all; "I'm going to take down Assassin. Will you come along?"

"I've got to go," Lancer said apologetically. "I advise against fighting her without backup though. While you homulunculi are super-human, you really don't want to test your backbone - or face - against her Master's fist."

"Isn't there something to prevent something like half the Servants all grouping up?" Illya commented idly. It was ironic, given that the while War business started because the original participants couldn't cooperate and started murdering one another.

So maybe there wasn't anything to prevent it, if that was the initial goal.

* * *

l

* * *

(Some time ago, ie: the morning of Day 1)

(For reference: This is just after Rin stumbled on Shirou and Sasaku, and summoned Kuro)

(Fraga Bazett)

By the time she regained consciousness, the combination of her body and prepared supporting runes had already closed the 'wound' that the stump of her missing left arm. However, the two neat wounds in either thigh had, despite being quite small, not healed properly - and she knew exactly why.

 _That bloody Kirei betrayed me._

The unhealing wounds clearly made by Gae Bolg. But why go to the effort to maim her then send her back to her hotel room? After breaking the rules to steal Cu Chulainn, did he not care if it was found out? _Unless that's actually part of the plan. He should know that I might survive, or rather banked on that fact. So the extra wounds are just to... make sure I can only call for help?_

As Bazett pulled herself up with her remaining hand, she felt something unusual and glanced over at it. She blinked and surprise and looked at her missing arm, then back at the surprise arrival on her right hand.

A new set of three spear icon Command Seals had appeared.

* * *

After searching around the best she could, Bazett confirmed that while damaged, the Summoning Circle she had used to call out Cu Chulainn was damaged, but not irreparably. However, she no longer had his earrings or any catalyst to use, or the appropriate reagents to restore her circle to use.

She remembered that a magus' blood was quite magically conductive, after looking around at the trails of her own around the room, . And though not the most civilized, it certainly had its uses in many rituals, be it circles, runes or others. Glancing at her bandaged but still bleeding legs, she came to an easy decision.

* * *

 _I need strength to obtain revenge._

As she finished the chant, which was delivered sitting next to the rather crude and literally bloody circle, Bazett felt a sense of satisfaction as the summoning process began. _This has to be the War's last Servant, I wonder what class is left._

Holding up a hand against the blinding flash of a successful summoning, she lowered it to look up at the black figure in front of her.

"Servant Assassin, summoned upon your request."

 _The color I can understand. But what assassin wears half plate and carries a massive spear?_ The look of astonishment and confusion must have shown.

"What's with that look? Here, the contract." Without answering, Bazett received the document, looking at it in a bit of a daze. _Cu Chulainn has nothing like this. In any case, the Master-Servant contract is handled by the Grail._

"I don't get it," she said finally. "Why have terms like ' _neither side can wish for the destruction of humanity, the Grail system_ ' and so on?"

Assassin stopped in the middle of tying up her blonde hair that had apparently not come arranged upon her summoning. "It's a safeguard," she replied. "There's something wrong with... all this."

"Tell me about it."

* * *

l

* * *

(Day 4: a little before Lancer meets Medusa carrying Rin back to Sakura's place)

(Cu Chulainn)

"I'm glad to see you're alive and about," he greeted his former Master politely enough, though she looked upset to see him. Understandably so, since Kirei had thought to use his spear to make sure she wouldn't be able to walk. That the effect had somehow been undone was less of a surprise given the person with her. A new Servant.

"Assassin," Bazett said simply. "If he makes to attack, kill him. Right. Let's talk. I want to kill Kirei, are you going to stop me?"

"I sort of have to, yeah. No hard feelings though," he said, looking at the armored Assassin. _A spearman?_ "I still wouldn't mind an honest fight with you, but I guess that wouldn't be an even battle."

 _Well, it is what it is, I guess._ Fortunately, Kirei had again been somewhat careless in his instructions. "Well Assassin, let's fight." With that he began feeding energy into his spear. "Sorry, but I was told to take no risks." Against an Assassin, a quick activation of Gae Bolg was all that was needed...

"There it is," Bazett said with some satisfaction.

Rather than rush forward as expected, Assassin instead planted her feet in the ground and unfurled her... flag? The item in question began glowing, the golden highlights shimmering brightly as it began to project some sort of defensive field.

 **(Luminosite Eternelle)!**

 **(Gae Bolg)!**

Both sides immediately activated their Noble Phantasms almost at the same time. But not quite.

Cu Chulainn lazily pushed his spear towards its target, expecting the weapon to spring to life and pierce Assassin's field and thereafter her heart. But nothing happened, unless you count Gae Bolg just falling from his hand onto the ground.

 _What?_

He had the briefest of moments to be surprised before Assassin set upon him by flailing about with her flag like a madwoman. In between heavy sweeps, he noticed she was wearing a sword, even if she apparently preferring using both hands to attack with a flag like a bludgeoning weapon instead.

 _No, I see. Her defense prevented the 'reversal of cause and effect' curse from applying._ Of course, given just how much work Bazett had done to ensure she summoned him for the War, her having done research, or actually **just listening** during their discussions and light sparring sessions meant she was perfectly placed to realize such a strategy.

 _Hmph._ His spear still had its charge of energy, while Assassin's flag had already been drained by her defensive move earlier. He could activate it faster than she could raise her defense, and if not she was still using more prana than he was.

Cu Chulainn jumped back quickly, to about the maximum range allowed for Gae Bolg's activation. His eyes narrowed, focusing, as he quickly fed in a little more energy to replace the portion that had bled off during the failed attempt earlier.

 _She can either try for the defense again, or rush in. The former probably won't make it in time, the latter definitely won't._

 **(Gae-**

* * *

(Assassin)

" _He's going for it, you're going to have to use that_."

Though she started to frown at the thought, the attack was already prepared. Lancer probably wouldn't have noticed since the basis of it, which had been flowing from Bazett to her now second Servant, was not magical energy but hatred.

She had a name. _Kotomine Kirei_ , an overseer who had messed up the War so greatly that even the Grail System itself was somehow corrupted. Also a betrayer, though that was almost the lesser charge at present. She flung a hand out towards Lancer, unleashing hate given solid form.

Cu Chulainn abruptly stopped attempting to use his Noble Phantasm and jumped back again with his class' trademark agility as several lances abruptly appeared below him, stabbing upwards.

 _Did he suspect... no, Bazett probably guessed wrong, and the attack did trigger his **(Protection from Arrows)**. But still -!_

More lances came up, chasing her retreating opponent. _He's now aware that I can outrange his Noble Phantasm._ She watched as this information changed his mind and quickly left.

 _However to actually gain a victory, we'll need a lot more than this._

* * *

(A day or two before)

(Bazett)

"That won't work on those," Bazett commented while watching her surprise Assassin-class Servant, Jeanne d'Arc wrap her silken banner, complete with beautiful gold thread embroidery, around her legs. "The wounds left by Gae Bolg don't heal."

"You already know these things aren't as absolute as they seem from the human level," she replied. "It's much like the immovable object and irresistible force, except neither of them actually are. One might be rank A and the other only B+. I'm sure my banner can purge the curse, just as I'm sure someone has a strong enough attack to smash through it."

 _My banner, protect my brethren._

The banner glowed as it absorbed Jeanne's prana, which in turn flowed into the wounds it was touching, and began cleansing the lingering effects of Gae Bolg. "I guess that's true, if you stack up legends against one another, they can't all hold perfectly. It is the basis of the Grail War, after all."

"I wonder about that," her Servant replied, annoyance creeping into her voice. "This isn't supposed to happen. I shouldn't even qualify for Assassin class."

"Well, have you killed people?" Bazett asked simply.

"Sure, but not a **ssassinated** anyone, or really done the stealth thing. In fact, I don't even have **(Presence Concealment)** which is supposed to be a trademark Skill of the Assassin class."

"About that... you said the Grail itself was corrupted?"

* * *

l

* * *

 _ **Notes:**_  
Yeah remember when Sasaki Kojirou was the weird Assassin without Presence Concealment? There must be some Rider who doesn't have the Riding Skill or equivalent, now that I think about it (maybe a FGO event/swimsuit one or something).

Sasaku has some versions of the Territory Creation and Item Construction skills (technically not the latter though).


	32. Preparation Day

**Preparation Day**

* * *

(Kojirou)

"You're back," is all the Saber said to greet his Servant-of-a-Master on her return. "I take it you also had a thrilling battle."

She looked at him in amusement, by now totally recovered from the small wound Gilgamesh had inflicted on her, which Kojirou had probably noticed when she took it. "It was more like being courted, not that you'd know about that. Was Berserker everything you hoped for?"

"I fought Lancer, and only briefly at that. But Lu Bu damaged my sword a little - what a brute." He was quite upset that, by simply smashing his God Force against the blade, Lu Bu had not only defended himself, but also reduced Kojirou's offensive ability as well. "It needs to be fixed."

"Sure, I'll take a look at it," she replied, unaware of the significance of his weapon being even a little bent near the end. "But there's a lot to do and not much time, is everyone inside?" The sun was rising, but daylight was no guarantee that someone might not try an attack if they could get away with it.

"They are." Kojirou waited until she had moved past him before adding, "Archer, Kuro might want some of your time. Oh wait, there she is now." He didn't bother to hide his smirk as Sasaku turned to frown at him moments before being grabbed from behind and spun about to face the group's smallest Servant. "..."

Given that Sasaku made no attempt to defend herself, Kuro's forceful kiss-draining was most likely the latter working out her remaining grudges. Well, he had a few grudges of his own, since the Caster had two decent duels (granted, she lost _both_ of them, but that was to be expected) compared to the mismatched scraps he got.

"Getting welcomed back with a kiss and everything, you sure have it all," Rin grumbled as she appeared. Another girl with a grudge to nurse. Notably though, she made no attempt to stop her Servant, regardless - or rather, because of what orders Sakura had given or not given her. _Letting the other magus do that was a mistake._

" _Why_ are you enabling her?" Shirou asked. Despite only showing up after Kuro had finished and, a bit more gently than earlier, leaned Sasaku against the wall, it didn't take a genius to tell what had happened. "Sasaku, what happened with Gilgamesh?"

"Yes," Rin immediately snapped at the topic. "He's the archer from the _last_ War, how is he here? Does he know about who killed my father?"

"Calm down," Sakura muttered from behind Shirou, her lips pressed together in annoyance, though why was a much less obvious affair. "It seems like Grandfather isn't the only one who has been messing around with the Grail system."

* * *

(Sakura)

Sasaku straightened her posture as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, before taking out what looked like a normal pair of glasses, and handing it to her. "Apparently Gilgamesh thinks your Rider might find this useful." Sakura glanced at it, unsure what to make of the mundane-looking item. "Did he say what it does?"

"No, but my analysis suggests they are ' _Mystic Eye killers_ ' that suppress, well, Mystic Eyes." Nodding at the gift's obvious utility, she stuck it into her skirt pocket. "But I've never met Gilgamesh before?"

"He was quite insistent that I tell you -George- says hi. Does that mean anything?"

"George? The kid who lives at the church?" Sakura's train of thought about the child who ran the church's childcare along the priest was suddenly interrupted by Rin's scream of " **Kotomine Kirei !** "

* * *

(A little while later, in the living room)

(Shirou)

"And so, since he has been hiding my father's Servant, it all makes sense. That fucking fake priest probably spent the last decade laughing at 'our' attempts to find out what exactly had happened to all the lost spellbooks, not to mention the true killer." Rin looked a little apologetic while continuing, "We checked this estate before Shirou moved in, and of course there was nothing."

"Wait, my house?" the boy asked in confusion. "You thought Kiritsugu murdered your father while he was dying?"

"Er no, the killing happened in the middle of the War, and he was perfectly fine even when fighting Kirei just before the Fuyuki Fire occurred. Or so that backstabber told me anyway, he might have been lying all along. Regardless, all bets are off if even the supposedly neutral overseer is... oh damn, Einzbern. That girl seemed to take notice of you immediately, they must have sent her to kill you."

"I had nothing to do with the War or them, though?"

"Yes, but your father was in it because they hired him and they were apparently very angry about his failure. You're an Emiya too now, so..."

"Ok, ok, enough of that," Sasaku said, drawing everyone's attention. "Sakura, we need to talk right now. Rin after, you seem to have the best picture of what's going on of all of us."

" _Are you going to fill me in on what's going on?_ " her Master sent over their link. " _Look, I already know you've got Rin under a control geass of some sort, why did you think it necessary to keep that from me? And why have Sakura do it?_ "

" _I'll explain, but keep that to yourself for now. Can you keep an eye on Kuro for me? I'm really don't want her wandering about unsupervised._ " Sasaku and Sakura began making their back towards Shirou's room, since that was the area set up as the center of her Realm.

" _That I can understand, but why not Kojirou? He's a Servant and I'm not._ "

" _Because she's less likely to misbehave if **you** 're there and would disapprove. Go watch TV with her or something, I think Prisma Phantasm is on._"

" _Are you kidding me? Fine, fine, I'll take time off to watch a magical girl show with someone **else** 's Servant in the middle of a War._"

* * *

l

* * *

(Shirou's room)

(Sakura)

"Ok, so where is Rider, and what are you doing with all the magical energy you take in?" Sasaku got right to the point after putting up a ward to block sound.

" _If she figures out you can't actually call on Rider, we're done for,_ " the voice in her mind warned, not that she needed it.

"She's nearby, and is still healing so-" Sakura started nervously before Sasaku simply shook her head. "Ok, so you know, I can tell what happens to the magical energy in here that that's of my **type** and I can tell that none of yours has been leaving, and whatever goes into you just disappears somewhere."

" _She knows or guessed too much, wouldn't it be best to come clean?_ " Sakura wondered.

" _Are you kidding, that's a magus, you can't trust her,_ " he pushed back. " _You realize we're helpless, and in enemy territory? Listen to me-_ "

" _ **Shirou** isn't an enemy, and she's _his _Servant. She wouldn't do anything to us._ "

" _And why do you trust- did he_ fuck _your common sense away? Is that why you're determined to offer yourself up on a platter?_ " The outburst was a critical mistake.

" _How_ dare _you? You... wait, you're weaker somehow, is that what this is about? You're scared?_ " Sakura frowned, too caught up in her mental debate to realize that Sasaku had noticed the inner conflict and was also frowning while wondering what to make of it.

" _That- that's_ it _, you can't even take care of yourself. I'll handle our revenge from here._ "

" _No you won't. What this about_ our _? I don't trust you._ "

" _I wasn't asking._ "

At this point, Sakura felt something change in the atmosphere. Abruptly the worms in her body, agitated by it or perhaps simple need to obtain prana to feed on, started to thrash about. A few of the more aggressive ones started biting away from inside her flesh.

Her well-'trained' mind automatically shut off. Which meant that the voice arguing with her was suddenly no longer a voice as his coup succeeded with no resistance.

* * *

(Sasaku)

Sasaku had noticed immediately Sakura's change in attitude upon being more closely questioned. _No wonder Zouken didn't enter the War himself, he's been playing the other two Matou's like puppets._ _This must have been why she was almost desperate to come with us.  
_

Perhaps, then, she was surprised to see Sakura's struggling with herself deepen after tightening the field that prevented contact with the outside world. And trying discreetly to purge various effects from the magus. _I don't understand, it's like there's something else_ inside _of her? I shouldn't underestimate Zouken just because he's a human. Not a deep-rooted command, some sort of at-distance control spell?_

With some satisfaction, she pushed the strength of her isolation spell further upwards. _Maybe he just couldn't risk overt action with our two Servants in his house, but you should've just let go gracefully._

As a result, Sasaku was completely taken by surprise when Sakura abruptly jumped up and started trying to **strangle** her.

* * *

 _Hold on, I can't suffocate to death,_ she thought calmly while trying to remove Sakura's hands from her throat. However, Sasaku found herself _unable_ to do so despite any Servant's advantage over a human, and numerous black ribbon-like shadows started erupting around the two of them, grabbing hold and ripping magical energy out of her, naturally she began to panic.

Dropping all the wards around the room, she screamed at Shirou, " ** _Help!_** " as the shadows started to break down her body into its constituent spiritons and absorb them. _Did the Matou have some special magecraft that even works on Servants?!_

* * *

l

* * *

(Kuro)

Though Shirou-nii might think her distracted by the show in front of them, Kuro was busily trying to piece together things in her own way. _It seems about six years in 'the future', though there differences besides just time. At there's another season of Prisma Phantasm, and TM finally stopped being coy about Ruby and Sapphire's attraction for one another. About time._

Maybe a little distracted.

"You know," Shirou said suddenly as the two characters fired beams from their wands, with predictable inefficacy, at the ongoing story arc's boss character. "Do you know why Sasaku doesn't use spells?"

"Huh? If you were asking why I don't use a bow I might know, but not what's up with your Servant." She shrugged off the question, remembering that Sasaku had shot a beam at her before, but it splashed harmlessly off her Magic Resistance. "Isn't it a prana efficiency thing?" _Opps, that was probably not the best topic to bring up._

"Probably," he said without noticing. "I need to stop holding her back, get stronger somehow..."

"Yeah no, I'm pretty sure it's just that she's weak. Combat-wise I mean, the two of you seem to have done pretty well regardless of that though."

"Suppose so, though I wonder what she-" Shirou abruptly cut off and jumped to his feet before dashing off. _What was that about?_ Sensing something a bit more interesting, and Shirou had a recorder on so she could watch the show later on anyway, Kuro gave chase.

* * *

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* * *

 ** _Notes:_**  
Apparently Kojirou doesn't like women (in general) giving him orders. It's why Sasaku tried to convince him that actually Shirou was his Master though that wasn't actually true. That said though, she depends/relies on him, rather than ordering him so that might be the difference.

Or perhaps because he treats it more like indulging a child rather than obeying someone, who knows... (You know she's the kind of person who would say 'yeah, I'll take that' and roll with it, too.)


	33. The Return

**The Return**

* * *

(Shirou)

 _Wait a moment_ he thought, _If we're under attack..._ "Kuro," he said quickly, looking over his shoulder at where she was, following him. "Get hold of Rin, you know where she is, right?"

"Outside with the swordsman," she said, catching on. "I'll fetch both of them."

"Thanks, I'll rely on you." Not for the first time he felt the lack of an ability to directly communicate with Kojirou - he could with Sasaku, and she could with him, but she didn't respond to his questions about what was going on." _Actually she probably called for him first, since it takes Servants to fight other Servants._

* * *

In fact, Sasaku had only instinctively reached out for Shirou. By the time she could have realized Kojirou was an option, probably the better one at that, she wasn't able to do so thanks to Sakura's surprisingly dangerous magecraft. The magus was trying to inflict _some_ sort of unusual effect on her, and judging by the former's condition, it was probably some sort of cognitive state manipulator. If she didn't take care to purge it _before_ it took hold, she probably wouldn't be of a mind to do so after.

As a result, Shirou was the first one to step into his now shadowy hellscape of a room and realize that things had gone horribly wrong somewhere. _What is going on here?_ Seeing the scene playing out in front of him, he did the first, probably stupidest, but ironically the best thing that came to mind.

"Sakura, what are you doing?"

* * *

(Sasaku)

When she heard Shirou's confused question from the door, Sasaku immediately realized her error in calling out to him. _Oh crap,_ she thought as Sakura's attention whipped over to where he was standing. _He's not going to realize before she-_.

Sakura froze as she suddenly tried to wrest back control of her body. Suddenly abandoned, about half of the dark magecraft shadows began to dissipate. No one noticed Kojirou shoving Shirou out of the doorway as he darted into the room, sword at the ready.

Momentarily forgotten, Sasaku hoped that Sakura hadn't abruptly gained some form of Magic Resistance as she swiped a hand across the back of the girl's head, knocking her out with a relatively minor spell. _Thank goodness._

It was only after Sakura had slumped into her arms that the Caster realized her Saber rapidly approaching them with murder in his eyes. "Wait, Kojirou."

He didn't slow at all. _Damnit, after all that he's gonna kill her._ "Saber, no!"

Kojirou just wasn't listening, it would probably take a Command Spell to halt his attack, and it would probably not go off in time. _Actually, he knows better than to risk me, but he_ also _knows I won't die from being skewered so..._

"What are you doing?!" Shirou shouted in the middle of getting back on his feet several feet away. "Stop!" He reached out a hand as though his Command Spells could somehow work on Kojirou.

Sasaku met her Servant's eyes and realized that it wasn't as though he hadn't heard either of them. It wasn't a look of overriding focus, but rather determination. The tip of his long weapon shot forward as his arms propelled it at an even greater speed than his dash. Sasaku took a small breath, anticipating being run through.

* * *

A shadow burst out in front of Sakura, absorbing the thrust as the sword went halfway into it without coming out the back - as though it was just a gate to somewhere else. As it solidified, a rapidly forming arm reached out and slapped at the blade Kojirou was trying to pull back out.

With a groan, the long sword visibly bent about a third from the end before the hilt wrenched itself free from its owner's grip. The whole weapon went flying off into, and through, the now un-Reinforced room of Shirou's room.

Everyone held their breath as the shadow quickly grew in height and width like a wall between the swordsman and two magi before shrinking only a little and condensing into a very tall figure with golden wings and long purple hair.

 _Did all that magical energy give Rider a massive boost?_ Sasaku wondered numbly.

* * *

(Shirou)

Shirou recovered first, perhaps because his reaction was one of relief. "Thank you," he said, sparing the retreating Kojirou only a brief glance to be sure he wasn't about to do anything aggressive. "For protecting Sakura."

Rider only nodded before turning to fix Sasaku with a stare. The latter, probably remembering their _last_ encounter, quickly raised her hands, which caused Sakura to slide down to her feet. "Thanks," she said, following Shirou's example.

"I'll have to thank Gilgamesh for these," Rider responded, adjusting the glasses which looked quite odd despite fitting her perfectly. The tension in the room began to dissipate as Sasaku lifted Sakura and laid her down more comfortably on Shirou's bed.

" _That_ wasn't Sakura, I have some idea about what happened but you probably know more than I do," she said as Kuro and Rin appeared, poking their heads into the room carefully. "It wasn't Zouken, was it?" Her suspicions had been proven wrong when trying to isolate them from the outside had caused Sakura to go berserk.

"Some sort of failed Heroic Spirit summon," Rider said. "I myself was worried that she was unstable, but just now... I could tell, it had its down aim and goals. Based on my scouting around Fuyuki, it is most likely linked to the curse near the park area, or at least it _feels_ similar."

"... curses? Rin, did that priest of yours happen to pass down any exorcism rituals?"

"What, do you think any of those would work on a Heroic Spirit even if he did?" Sasaku shrugged in response. "You never know."

"Actually, I have an idea," Medusa volunteered. "I'll need your help though, since there isn't any way to get back inside Sakura's space."

"It's a good thing we moved here before it went down," the Caster muttered to herself. "So, what you got in mind?"

Looking down at her unconscious Master, Medusa began to explain her plan. "Servants can sometimes share their Master's dreams, right? Since the battle is, hmm, inside her soul or something like that, it should suffice."

"Hold for a bit," Shirou spoke up, looking around at everyone crammed into his room. "This sounds delicate not to mention risky, so the rest of us should move outside. Sasaku, put up the wards you removed as well."

" _Right, thanks._ " she sent over, though all she did otherwise was nod.

" _I don't want Rin to get a hold of anything that might trouble us. Fill me in once you're done, I'm guessing this is like doing surgery._ "

" _Probably. I'll have to get as much information as Rider can give me. But with that the chances of success go up a lot, if you remember my Sorcery Attribute. Though I won't overstate the odds._ "

"My sword is broken," Kojirou added suddenly, with a touch of bitterness. "Can you do anything about that?"

"Let me take a look at it," Kuro suggested. "I might be able to offer a 'quick fix' solution."

Shirou simply began herding everyone outside before any objections were raised. " _I'm trusting you to bring her back safely._ "

* * *

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* * *

Notes:  
Next time, honorable fistfights to assert dominance or something.

Yes, it's the Gorgon (third ascension) from FGO. Everyone will still refer to her a Rider/Medusa though. Because she shifted into this form rather than being summoned in it, she isn't like the FGO one either, she's more like a slightly blackened version of Medusa (yes, she is white and gold though), rather than the Avenger Gorgon.


	34. Fistfight for Dominance (Battle)

**Fistfight for Dominance (Battle)**

* * *

(Emiya estate, Shirou's room)

(Medusa)

"So," Sasaku said after the two of them were left alone, along with Sakura, of course. "Since I misdiagnosed earlier, can you explain what, or rather who's been inside your Master? Frankly, I don't like the idea of them being able to command you, or Rin and thus Kuro, after hijacking her body."

Medusa shrugged before deciding the wings were unnecessary and cumbersome. Since there was no need for flight, she simply 'removed' them. Though there was nothing to be done about her general lack of clothing, that mattered less at the moment. "My guess of some sort of heroic spirit is because they seem to be linked to the Grail in some way. The curse in the park, linked to the great fire, linked to the last Grail War's failure is also too massive to be a coincidence."

"Well, if someone tried summoning something with a really weak legend, so much so it couldn't even get a body, then I guess possessing someone would work. The question is why Sakura and how it got into her." Sakura glanced at the girl in question. "Or in any case, how to get it out, or at least prevent it from getting control. I don't suppose there's any chance she'll just wake up as herself."

"None," the Rider responded confidently. "Because she already lost when I was there, and now I'm not. If anything, we got lucky because Shirou caused her to react out of instinct, and I suppose unless I had left, you wouldn't be any the wiser. And the two of us would still lose to him."

The obvious question reared its head. "But how would you returning, in a dream or otherwise help if your presence wasn't enough before?"

Eyelids blinked over entrancing square pupils. "I wasn't fully conscious before. Ironically, due to my instinct to defend against that attack earlier, I 'woke up' so to speak."

"Sure, I see how that would would make a difference. You can have history with them? Presumably they know who you are, which is a major disadvantage." In Sasaku's estimation, the odds were not good, and Medusa agreed. However, unlike the Caster or her Saber, she could never think of giving up on Sakura without trying even one more last gamble.

"I never had any contact with them. They always spoke directly to Sakura's mind and I wasn't conscious when I was in there with them." There was another thing that came to mind, namely that since Sakura had fought back, even if she lost, now her 'friend' was definitely viewed as an enemy. Why specifically though, Medusa couldn't have known, but it was not a hard guess.

"If we're going to do this, faster would be better, our enemy is probably fortifying their position, as it were." Sasaku sighed at the thought. "Any more guidance besides trying to link your consciousness into her dream or whatever state she's in now?"

"Here," Medusa handed over a familiar-looking blindfold, only this one was black with gold markings, rather than purple with white. "You have experience with the other Gorgon Breaker, using this on me should make it easier."

"Oh yeah, I did use it, didn't I?" the Caster looked a bit hesitant while taking the Noble Phantasm. "Sorry about that, it was the best tool for the job."

"I had already passed it to Sakura, it was her decision to lend you the use of it, and I will stand by that." Medusa looked about and, lacking any better option, simply lay on the ground next to the bed where Sakura was lying. "By the way, if this doesn't work, I'm sure you'll know how to handle it."

The two of them just stared at one another for a moment. Sasaku nodded. Medusa already knew that the other Servant had all her backups and countermeasures in mind before agreeing, even if she was too tactful to prepare them right in front of her.

 _But in this case, it's fine_ she thought to herself, closing her eyes. _We wouldn't want to live as not-ourselves, as monsters. No one should have to._

* * *

(Sasaku)

True to her expectations, Gorgon Breaker quickly put even the supercharged Medusa under easily, probably because she was expecting and completely willing to fall under its effects.

Sasaku raised her eyes to the ceiling, thinking briefly before laying one hand on Medusa's head. The other soon followed suit on Sakura's head. The Caster opened her mouth and began to, well, cast.

 _This is a day of judgment,_ she began, with an fair of finality, one announcing a decision. An end.

 _Who knows the heart of a man,_  
 _But the spirit of the man?_ She reached out, taking of hold Rider's 'dream,' shaping it to her will, which is to say into Sakura's mind.

 _But the wise understand all things,_  
 _And the diligent seek out many things._  
 _And the child may learn much,_  
 _but the foolish stumble in the same place._ There was no resistance as the flow from Medusa passed into Sakura's sleeping form. The battle, it seemed, had already begun.

 _Who seeks to control the heart, must first know the spirit._  
 _That raise hands in arrogance, must be brought down by the low._  
 _That suffer the oppression, must be let free._

Looking at the completed link, Sasaku nodded to herself in satisfaction. It was well done, so at least her part had been successful thus far. _Now to maintain it._ She took a breath, unnecessary for a Servant, but more habit than anything.

 _This is a day of judgment..._

* * *

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* * *

(Matou house, basement)

(Sakura)

The world did not extend much beyond the damp, worm-filled depression in the stone floor where her naked body was currently being gnawed on or otherwise abused by the magical familiars.

A little distance away, just out of sight, Grandfather was muttering something. A spell, a chant, an incantation, cursing, grumbling, it hardly mattered. It had long since become clear that the Matou magecraft, and the worms that went along with it, were never to be passed down to her, only to torment her.

He wouldn't let go of that mystery, those familiars, **her**.

She had thought about killing herself, sure. Who wouldn't? But it was impossible, not just because magic crests (and apparently this extended to crest worms) were rather powerful at healing or at least preservation of life - but because there was simply some odd compulsion preventing her from doing so.

It was definitely Grandfather's twisted binding, since it did not merely remove the ability to contemplate suicide, it simply made the thought of dying in general utterly terrifying for absolutely no reason at all. For her, it simply -was- even though she knew it was completely nonsensical.

Had she been lying when threatening her own life as a warning to Medusa to be careful with Shirou? Not quite, for the simple fact that the thought of his death terrified her even more than her own. But, if she was honest with herself, had his corpse turned up instead, she probably wouldn't be able to follow suit.

 _But only probably._

* * *

There was a loud sound, like something being smashed. It was the basement door, the gaping opening replacing it now allowing light from outside to peek into Grandfather's dungeon of workshop.

He stopped whatever he had been doing, probably fixing the would-be intruder with dead, yet deadly hostile gaze. In a moment, they would be cut into small, worm-bite sized pieces by a blender of teeth, some impossibly razor sharp, others backed by otherwise pointlessly strong jaws, and yet others dripping with acidic poisons.

But by the sound of it, the blender found itself against another blender. The sound of teeth smashing against teeth and flesh being ripped apart did not stop as the outsider slowly cut their way directly towards where Sakura's body lay, until standing right above it. Silence reigned.

"Get up," they said. After a moment of no response, a powerful scaled arm reached in to the worm-covered mess and grabbed their prize. Then without a further word, began cutting all about her, removing worms in whole or in parts. Some of them did not leave without carrying away portions of flesh, but considering they were killed while biting in, it hardly mattered.

When she was finally clear of the literally bloody worms, Sakura's savior looked about and then laid Sakura down behind them, stomping on a few worms that had thought to follow.

"What did you do with my Master?" Rider demanded.

There was no response except for a sudden crash as Grandfather...! _Slammed into her_? The crashes continued in close succession as though the two were brawling it out. _But that's impossible, Grandfather took special precautions against precisely this because even he couldn't just take on a Servant without one of his own!_

Though they were not hers to control, the worms already integrated into Sakura's body bore crests that began to close up the numerous small wounds marring her flesh.

* * *

(Medusa)

"Who are you?" Medusa asked in between a flurry of blows. However, she was slowly being forced backwards despite looking and sounding much larger and heavier than she should have been. "Damn you, I thought she finally gained some confidence but it was all just your manipulations?!"

Abruptly abandoning a guard to instead charge forward, she caught her opponent by surprise, sending him back several paces. Which she hastily closed, glad to be on the offensive. Although he was a furiously fast attacker, he had very little power, and her earlier blow showed he was quite literally a lightweight.

Left, right, elbow, shoulder slam. The dark figure which was definitely not Zouken hurriedly danced around Medusa as she shifted into a mix of attacks and wide cuts with her claws on the defense.

"Why aren't you dying?" he said at last in frustration. "I see, you're the one who was sapping my power. You... you snake! How dare you absorb my vengeance! I will rip it back out from your corpse!"

With that, he redoubled his assaults. The basement grew somewhat lighter as its shadows were sucked into him, fueling the onslaught. "You monster, didn't you devour your sisters, why defend some random girl now?!"

 _He's trying to distract me, don't listen._ Gritting her teeth as she found herself forced onto the defensive by his encircling attacks, Medusa kept on cutting about wildly. Though her speed did not match his, coverage and unpredictability made it difficult for him to get a clean strike on her before being forced to pull back.

Over and over again.

* * *

(Sakura)

The increasingly desperate sound of Medusa's exertions contrasted despairingly with her enemy's confident cackles as they dueled. But almost as soon as it began, the fight's climax arrived and left.

One of Medusa's blows connected squarely, sending her opponent, mid-attack flying backwards. However, he slammed into the ground only a short distance from where Sakura was lying.

All three of them realized this at the same time, but only one was in a position to do anything about it. Reaching over, he seized Sakura by the throat and held her up triumphantly.

"I _was_ going to carry out your revenge and let you watch, but blame your Servant for being denied even this." By the sound of his breathing as he said this, the fight had been more even that it had seemed. Apparently Medusa was far too durable for him to overcome.

Medusa came dashing, no, _flying_ over but somehow despite picking up speed, she never got any closer. _It's like the space is distorted somehow?_

"Sakura!" she shouted, or perhaps sent telepathically, given that by this point she was traveling faster than sound but still couldn't reach. "This isn't real, we're **inside your soul** somewhere! Fight him!"

 _Inside? But how? Wait..._

As fingers creaked, squeezing her neck with the intent to crush her life out, she remembered something. _This is... **him**? He said there was a void inside my soul didn't he? An Imaginary Number space..._

 _He's not the friend he pretended to be._ Reaching out, Sakura grabbed his hand and began trying to pry his fingers off her neck, succeeding much to his amazement. Snarling, he responded by bringing up his free hand, but she intercepted it with her own. The two struggled.

"You promised me freedom and revenge, while plotting to rob me of both," she spat in his face without issue regardless of how much effort he was putting into choking her. "You _wanted_ Shirou to die! I **don't** need you anymore."

Giving up, he flicked the arm holding her downwards, sending Sakura crashing into the stone floor and losing her breath. He immediately jumped on top of her, fists descending even faster.

"You bloody _human_ , give it up," he snarled. "Who the fuck are you to stand in the way of **my** freedom and revenge?!"

* * *

That's when she **realized**.

It wasn't Grandfather who had impressed the terror of death into her, if he could do that, he wouldn't have had to do all the other things. _No, it was this one. All along, they've **both** been twisting me around their fingers._

Ironically, with him and Grandfather both trying to break Sakura down and make her theirs to use, they had hindered one another. Not perfectly, but with Medusa, enough.

Punching upwards blindly, but guided by the sound of his voice, she connected with a satisfying crunch, sending the spirit staggering backwards off her.

"I'm not just a human," she muttered more to herself than him while getting to her feet. "Grandfather, you, both wanted a fucking monster and _here_ you go!" Ignoring an incoming attack, she slammed into him with a shoulder sending him flying almost effortlessly. _The worms might not be mine, but they aren't his either. The rest is all **my** body._

Chasing after him, she pounced as he hit the ground groaning. "Do you know where you messed up?" she asked rhetorically while slamming a fists into his gut to keep him there. "It's when you tried to convince me to reach out and take ownership of **Shirou**." The dumbfounded look on his face suggested that hit harder than her attacks had.

"Never!" She continued pummeling him before finally giving up and grabbing him by the neck. All the black in the room condensed around the two of them leaving the whole space an empty white as its distortion finally faded, allowing Medusa to reach the pair.

"I'm not _just_ going to kill you," Sakura said calmly as the shadows formed themselves into dense, velvety ribbons that bound her enemy. "You weren't going to, to me, and you'd just return to the Throne or somewhere. So instead... I'm going to lock you up forever. Your screaming soul is going to work for me for literally forever!"

Medusa stopped at a short distance away, eying her now fallen opponent as he started screaming while the shadows began to break him up and absorb the spiritual essence. "This is all inside of me, so there isn't any way you can ever escape. Throne, Root, heaven, hell, it's all infinitely far away from you now."

It wasn't clear if she stopped out of respect, because there was simply no longer any threat, or because Sakura was now the more dangerous of the two in front of her.

"Now, you're mine, **Count**."

* * *

l

* * *

When Sakura next opened her real-life eyes, the first thing she saw was Shirou leaning over her looking concerned. She blinked. _Somehow, he seems even closer than last night when we..._

"You're awake," he stated the obvious before being pulled out of sight by... _Sasaku, given the energy signature._ Undeterred he continued, "How are you feeling, Sakura?"

"Quite well Shi-" she realized that there were several other people around. "Er, Senpai. Sorry to worry you, I don't quite remember what-" And then she **remembered**.

"Aaa!" Sakura jumped to her feet in a panic, bowing repeatedly to Sasaku. "I didn't mean to-! I mean it was-!"

Shirou's Caster just raised an eyebrow and smiled faintly as a pair of massive arms reached out from behind Sakura and held her upright. _Wait, isn't that- is that Rider?_

"Be at peace," was all she said in her usual girlish voice.

* * *

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* * *

Notes:

At _meririn83_ : Glad you find it interesting. While Kojirou is relatively light for a Saber (no armor, no special holy sword etc) Medusa switched types from Quick to Buster, it seems. Though Kuro is also somewhat of a heavy hitter, perhaps more of a glass cannon type. Though what's more important is keeping all those Servants/Masters on the same page and pointed in the same direction...

I remember in the past, we appended Dark/Black(kuro) to people who got blackened, though now it's Alter? Then again Kuro has a tan compared to Illya.  
Yeah, so the Third Magic... using souls like a perpetual motion machine to infinitely generate magical energy... the flow itself is limited, though it will continue forever.


	35. Bone of a Sword (Battle)

**Bone of a Sword (Battle)**

* * *

(Emiya house, while the last chapter is taking place)

(Shirou)

Kojirou picked up his sword which was lying on the floor of the corridor outside Shirou's room, having gone through the its wall, as well as the wall of Sasaku's room which was adjacent to it. The Saber sighed while examining his... "Actually what type is it?" Shirou asked curiously. The question had begged to be asked from the moment he saw the weapon in question.

"It's a pole for drying laundry," his Servant's Servant replied dryly. "But it's broken now."

"Hm," was all Shirou said while watching Kojirou try to straighten the monstrously long weapon by bending it back with his foot. _When we summoned a Saber, I thought we were set for close combat, but then Einzbern shows up with Lu Bu. But now Rider's turned into quite the hard-hitter herself. We're lucky she's too concerned with Sakura's well-being to hold grudges._

Kuro eagerly followed the other Knight outside to the open courtyard as he tested his field-repaired sword. Rin did as well. As expected of a Heroic Spirit of the sword, Kojirou expertly moved his blade about to examine how it would perform. The results were not encouraging though, judging by his growing disapproval.

"I didn't think Noble Phantasms could be damaged like that," Rin said after a moment. "I mean Rider, she is Medusa right? She shouldn't have any legend of unarmed combat or so on?"

"She _was_ , but isn't anymore.," Kuro spoke up while eying Kojirou. It wasn't sure if her frown was for him, his sword, or Rider's condition. "Medusa is already an anti-hero, which has its own issues, but... well you know what she turns into in the legends."

"Gorgon?" Rin asked after a moment. "Are you sure about that? Servants can be summoned in different classes sure, but they don't even switch between those, let alone turn into another them."

"You're asking me?" Kuro responded, turning her attention to the topic. "Gorgon is one of those very dangerous beings that can pose a threat to humanity's very existence. However she came to that form, I wouldn't mistake it. Well, ok she's supposed to be black colored rather than white, but as you can see, she's still strong enough to break Noble Phantasms with one hit."

"This isn't quite at the level of a Noble Phantasm though," Kojirou admitted, having given up before finishing. "And a Servant with high enough relative Strength can do this. So maybe not _any_ Servant, but plenty that aren't as powerful as you seem to be suggesting."

"Can I take a look?" Kuro asked, right as Rin immediately spoke up with, " **How** does that even work, you're a Saber and your sword isn't a Noble Phantasm? That makes no sense at all, your class is about the weapon... it's the class name!"

"Hmph," he scoffed while glancing at Shirou. _Well if it's as he says, no harm in letting Kuro try her special, er, tricks on it._ He simply shrugged in response, and Kojirou handed his damaged sword to the Archer, who ran a finger up the long blade. "It's about Heroic Spirits who use swords. Not all legends about swordsmen involve swords that destroy cities."

"Besides, that weapon itself is the proof," he continued as Kuro's expression grew serious. "It isn't even the one I remember using while alive - while long, even that one was only a little above half the size of this one."

" _Trace, on._ " Several glowing lines started running up and down the weapon, catching Rin's attention. "Is that an analysis Skill?" she asked. "Like the Structural Analysis magecraft."

"Basically." Returning the sword, Kuro looked over at Shirou. "He actually _is_ a Saber without a Noble Phantasm level sword. Do you know how that's possible?"

Shirou just muttered noncommittally, "It never even came up, we didn't have the time." He realized that Kojirou was the only one there who wasn't at all confused or puzzled. "Kojirou, what is the center of your legend?"

"Killing a swallow with a sword."

* * *

"I can make a replacement," Kuro said after everyone had come to terms, somewhat, with Kojirou's choice one-liner of a non explanation. "It'll just be a temporary fake though, I'm no blacksmith. Casters should have Item Construction, maybe Sasaku can fix the original."

"Can you make anything?" Rin asked immediately. "Like those other Noble Phantasms you used- oh!" She stopped mid-sentence.

Kuro simply shook her head but declined to answer, instead holding out her hands and closing them slightly as though about to grab hold of something. She closed her eyes and concentrated briefly. " _I am the bone of my sword._ "

A bright flash later, a new sword filled her hands, complete with sheath. Kuro offered the hilt to Kojirou, and when the latter had taken hold, the sheath disappeared. "I think you can probably use your own - gotta save on mana costs."

"How come your copy isn't damaged though?" Kojirou asked after merely lifting the blade into a stance. Kuro grinned with an air of accomplishment. "My analysis actually 'reads' the legend which the Grail materialized into your weapon. Thus, I gave you a copy of what the Grail would give you, not a copy of what you gave me."

"Well," he agreed with sudden cheer, "Let's have a match then. I owe you as much."

"Wait a second," Rin interjected, but too slow for Kuro who more quickly and certainly more loudly responded with, "You're on!"

* * *

"I really hope she's not underestimating him just because her weapons are actually Noble Phantasms," Rin fretted, remembering that just earlier Rider had so damaged Kojirou's original sword just by hitting it. Together with Shirou, the two of them were the only audience for the 'rematch' about to take place. Neither of them knew what had happened in the pair's previous battle.

She looked over at Shirou who was also worried. Unlike her, he had seen Kojirou about to run Sakura though and wasn't sure if it was ideal to be rearming a potential loose cannon. _Then again, **if** Sakura... no that won't happen..._

Kuro took a stance, left forward and right held back. Facing her, his calm contrasting her enthusiasm, Kojirou raised his replacement sword effortlessly.

* * *

(Kuro)

Though her two swords were Noble Phantasms, and his one was not, Kojirou had a higher Strength which meant the match was closer than merely comparing the weapons would suggest. Even more importantly, he had the advantage of range, an extreme one. However, she had something in mind for that.

Practically jumping into the attack while turning, she whipped the white sword forward, catching the Kojirou's advancing tip and moving it to the side. Putting left forward was only a feint - she pulled it in without slowing at all. Kojirou's first attack was deflected from an unexpected angle, and she rapidly closed into grapp-

Almost as though expecting this, the swordsman stepped back while turning, dragging his point back between him and Kuro before turning the whole blade into a massive sweeping cut that sliced through the air at remarkable speed, especially near the end powered by the sheer length.

Kuro's black blade blocked it easily enough, but the momentum threw her back out. _Damnit, that's the same trick Sasaku used._

Continuing to cut, Kojirou began moving forward, first at a walk, then a trot, gaining speed while repeatedly forcing Kuro back. Rin was trying to comment or something, but the exchange was hardly one-sided. Yes, her Archer was being pushed back, but that was only a question of momentum. Kojirou never managed to get his point, let alone edge, past Kuro's swords, and similarly her his. In fact, the two of them were tracing out a circle while this exchange continued.

While Kuro couldn't get a good read on his many different cuts or thrusts, she did gain some insight about his style. _I see. At maximum range, he will thrust, but falls back into medium range cuts._

 _Overedge._ Bringing her two weapons together as they grew in length and heft, she steadied her feet and prepared to dive in. Seeing this, and probably guessing she could deflect his attacks by covering herself, Kojirou stopped in his tracks.

She passed where his point would have been, if he had not already abandoned thrust attacks. He had one blade, and she could cover multiple of its lines of attack. She had taken care to keep low, so when an attack finally connected the force would pass through her into the ground. _Any moment now..._

She caught the brief narrowing of his eyes as Kojirou suddenly unleashed his Noble Phantasm. Just as she had learned from the blade itself, it was a technique, though she couldn't tell much beyond that.

Unlike before, this time Kojirou blurred but his sword came at her cleanly. Only, three ways at once. -That's quite the trick.- Since it apparently wasn't possible to close all that distance, the only option left was to close without traversing it. _So it comes to this then._

 **((Crane Wings))**

Throwing her two swords at him, Kuro transferred herself to his rear, bypassing his technique with her own. Without even looking, a new pair of shortswords was in her hands as she-

Kuro had a moment to see Kojirou's right elbow heading towards her face. _Of course, Sasaku **would** have told him about it._

* * *

(Kojirou)

When he saw Kuro steeling herself to move on the attack, Kojirou immediately guessed what technique she was about to employ. In exchange, and as a final test of his new sword, he decided to bring out his own.

 **((Tsubame Gaeshi))**

She threw her weapons at him, apparently leaving herself defenseless but of course that wasn't the case. He allowed the three swords to continue on their paths, certain that they would only cut air.

Kuro disappeared. Kojirou immediately swung his right arm back, as his left barely kept his sword under control. The feeling of a solid impact meant that she had fallen for the bait "opening". He turned, easily returning to a two-handed grip, bringing his sword down on Kuro, who was on the ground just in front of him.

* * *

(Rin)

"Ha ha ha," Rin laughed triumphantly, though she was still utterly shocked by the Saber's technique which she had just witnessed. "Kojirou, it's your loss."

"Wait a moment," Shirou said indignantly, but she only pointed at the two of them. Kuro had fallen down a little in front of Kojirou. The Saber's weapon was so long, and the Archer so short and close to him, that he couldn't actually hit her due to the ground being in the way.

Kojirou simply shook his head, straightening his posture and rapidly raising his hands. The sword pivoted effortlessly around the middle, eventually coming down at a much steeper angle, which was more than able to reach Kuro.

"She could have gotten in your face faster than that," Rin objected, but Shirou immediately saw the issue with that. "There's no way she could get on her feet faster than he moves his arms. And while she might be able to roll, he would still be able to control range.

"But she can... wait, how _do_ you teleport?" Rin asked, suddenly remembering that such things usually involved True Magic or something like the Grail. "No, wait, before that, how did you have three swords just now?!"

"Damn it," Kuro muttered, letting her swords fade and getting to her feet as Kojirou backed away. As his weapon was made by her, he couldn't simply put it away like the original. "Shouldn't have interrupted us."

"You'll have to consider that a draw for now," Shirou said, suddenly remembering what was going on inside his room, which instantly brought back the worrying. "No Rin, it **is** a draw, if only because you interrupted before they properly resolved it. If they want another round it'll be a restart anyway."

She shrugged nonchalantly. Truth be told, Kuro _was_ in the worse position there. Also, by the feel of it, her Archer used a decent amount of prana to teleport, while the Saber did not. However, had she picked a slightly different location, Kojirou's surprise counter wouldn't have worked. Provided that the technique allowed such flexibility, of course.

She looked at Kojirou, who was thanking Kuro again for the sword. It perfectly matched the capabilities of the former. _Yeah, I'll bet._

But more importantly, **his** technique. _That shouldn't be possible._ She made up her mind on a course of action as Shirou was re-entering the house.

"Can you explain how that works?" She asked directly, figuring that as a warrior, he was likely to respond badly to any perceived attempt at subtlety. Besides, he _had_ chosen to show it off.

"I cut really fast."

She didn't buy it. Even though her eyes couldn't follow the fighting, she knew one thing - there was a point where the energy of his weapon was multiplied threefold. Even if not a Noble Phantasm, it was still a Servant's weapon and thus the difference was unmistakable to any decent magus , especially at that distance. "Bullshit, there were three swords. Explain properly, or not at all."

He simply raised an eyebrow, and for a single shivering instant, she saw herself being cut apart by that technique.

"I told you. I was trying to cut a swallow," he said finally, taking out his sheath and using it to sling the sword Kuro had made over his shoulder like a rifle.

"I'm ready to listen to the full story," she said firmly, sitting down to prove the point. "Try me."

"By the way," Kuro added suddenly. "I noticed that you put away your sheath whenever fighting, is that okay?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" he answered her first, somewhat to Rin's annoyance.

" _Kuro, why did you distract him_ ," she grumbled over their link. " _It has to do with the legend of his death, remember_ 'Kojirou, you've already admitted defeat!' _when he did that._ "

"Oh, I see," Kojirou said after a moment, apparently taking a while to remember _his own_ legend. "Well that was a fictional encounter, wasn't it? I mean, many people in the current age know it as fiction too, so it isn't like a widespread misunderstanding that might get engraved into a Saint Graph."

* * *

l

* * *

(Kuro)

After Kojirou told the two of them his story about trying to cut a swallow with a single sword, Rin left flabbergasted at the outcome of such a 'ridiculous obsession'. She was also muttering something about _dimensional refraction_ , which didn't make much sense to the two warriors. But her admiration, of sorts, was as obvious as her lack of ability to be honest about it.

"You know, I think she's having difficulty deciding out if you were holding out on her or not," Kuro commented while they were sitting next to one another, looking at the tree growing the courtyard.

"And why shouldn't I? She tried to kill my Master," he replied without any hostility. "It's not wise to trust magi, especially with the knowledge they want."

"Oh, she might act tough, but I'm pretty sure she'd never hurt onii-chan," Kuro said, though Kojirou corrected her. "It's his Servant who summoned me, however they try to tell it."

"Huh? Is that a problem?" she asked in innocent confusion.

"Hmph."

* * *

(Kojirou)

 _Does her Master think it wouldn't occur to me that the two of them can communicate even if she's not here?_ he thought upon hearing Kuro's question.

"I'm not interested in magi and their manipulation games," was all he said. "If you have something to say, say it cleanly."

"I doubt Rin is playing any games,"Kuro replied after some thought. "I mean, she has to do what Sakura says, and Sakura does whatever Shirou wants. If anything, onii-chan is just following Sasaku's advice by the sound of it."

"Casters are magi too," he said curtly, though this was mostly to hide what he already knew about his unconventional Master's objectives. "I just want some honest battles between warriors. What about you, why join this melee?"

"Huh? I didn't choose, really. If anything, it chose me, or rather the Grail did." Kuro explained her, or rather Sasaku's thoughts on their shared state. Kojirou nodded, realizing that they might be even more unusual as Servants than himself.

"That child never tol- why are you laughing?" he asked when her giggles interrupted his grumbling.

"Unless you had a very different life from the legend, I'm pretty sure all of us count as children to Sasaku, given she was apparently an immortal for _centuries_ before becoming a Servant, or however she puts it. I guess she never mentioned it to you."

"Hmph."

 _Indeed she never mentioned it. That's odd, especially I was poking to try and see her reaction to being treated like a child,_ he mused, not sure what to make of it since she had a good reason to do otherwise.

 _Now that I think about it, she seemed genuinely surprised that Shirou's Command Spells didn't work on me. But since that's the case, **she** must have Command Spells somehow. But... she never tried using them?_

* * *

l

* * *

 ** _Notes:_**

At _trapdere_ : I was only referencing the FGO "ascension" mechanic. It just establishes that Servants can change somewhat (though it's mostly just a gameplay mechanic like levelling).

Sasaku obviously has _a_ backstory, but as the "you forgot yourself" complication is playing out, it's only different in that we don't know any more than she does... actually she'll talk a bit with Shirou soon, I'm sure (he's as curious as you are). It won't just be one vague dream thing either.

Knowledge of the Sowa (also "Sense of Subtle Elegance") prevents opponents from ever being able to read Kojirou's attacks. Sadly Lu Bu can tank due to being armored.

Kojirou didn't actually explain how Tsubame Gaeshi works in part because he doesn't understand the exact mechanics of what he's accomplished. He is a 'simple swordsman' after all - he knows everything about the properties and its use, not necessarily the theory of the Second Magic and so on. I don't think Rin will take up trying to cut swallows.


	36. What Marks a Monster (Arc 3 start)

**What Marks a Monster**

* * *

(Shirou)

Before Shirou had much of a chance to do anything but ask a few perfunctory questions, Sasaku was trying to move him out of the room, _his_ room, somewhat to his annoyance. " _What gives?_ " he asked over their link.

" _She needs to recover and, to your credit I will add, you will disturb her more than help. Also, we need to discuss some things **now** before people start asking questions._"

" _Fine, fine._ " He glanced backwards while leaving. Sakura was looking at Rider with an expression of astonishment. To be honest, he probably would as well, though perhaps a less generous soul might think he was just gawking at the Servant's expos- er, perfectly toned body. " _Actually, is it safe to just leave them alone? I'm worried about Rider changing her mind about revenge now that she doesn't need you._ "

" _If she changes her mind, we're doomed unless you're suggesting holding Sakura hostage._ " The rather sarcastic tone of that meant she took it as an impossibility. Nevertheless... " _I **didn't** mean it that way._"

" _Look, if anything, Sakura would cause Medua to change her mind back to cooperating. It's best to let them fill one another in without any overt observation. Humans tend to behave erratically when they feel like they're watched, let alone manipulated._ "

* * *

Sasaku closed the door behind them as Sasaki and Kuro arrived on the scene. "Oh, did she manage to fix that? No wait..."

Kojirou hefted the sword slung over his shoulder before taking out another, bent, one and handing it over. "Kuro made a temporary replacement. Can you do anything with this?"

The Caster looked for a moment at the damaged weapon in her hand before it shimmered away, into her Armory. "Given enough time, yes. Before we're attacked, no idea." She looked at the replacement's beaming maker. "Thanks Kuro, I owe you one."

"Oh, it was noth-" she started, but Kojirou with a wide grin cut in, "Her methods are quite mana intensive, so..."

Sasaku glared at him as Kuro started laughing. "And what is Rin doing? It is not funny to run down to the wire on energy, you know."

There was a brief silence before Kuro finally spoke up, "How exactly did onii-chan manage to support both of you if he didn't even practice magecraft?"

Shirou tried to chip in helpfully with, "Well, Casters... have their ways?" This was followed by a longer, much more awkward silence.

"Look," Sasaku said finally, "We'll get into that, but first I need to get Shirou-nii's permission for a bunch of things. Ok? It's a promise, then." With that, she pulled the mentioned magus into her room and closed the door before putting up a couple of wards.

* * *

l

* * *

(Sasaku)

"We have a problem." was the first thing she said once they were private. Shirou appeared completely unsurprised by this. "Explain. Do you have a solution?"

She went straight to the point. "There's something wrong with Sakura. Medusa didn't go into details, but it is most likely that what happened was a result of Zouken... experimenting."

"On her." It wasn't really a question, but Sasaku nodded anyway. "You said it wasn't Zouken though?"

"He wasn't the one controlling her, no. It probably wasn't intended but..."

Sasaku laid out the many things she and Medusa had discussed before and after Sakura's "operation". Zouken's identity as one of the original magi who created the Grail System, the lingering curse in the park linked to the fire at the end of the previous Grail War. That same curse being linked to a new Heroic Spirit, who tried to take over Sakura. Medusa absorbing the curse, leading to both the spirit being weakened and her changed appearance."

Shirou took it all in with an increasingly deep frown, until the very end. " _Kuro_ identified her as Gorgon? Isn't that a more serious problem?"

His Servant shook her head, "Medusa's no rampaging destroyer. Her body changed, but her mind has not. Sakura might be the reverse, I suspect Zouken was trying to mess with her cognitive processes, but for what purpose I have no idea. It's been going on from long before Medusa ever appeared."

* * *

(Shirou)

Shirou looked about the room while thinking. It was kept tidily, probably aided by being mostly empty. "Are you telling me she's been insane the whole time? But she seemed..." _normal_ he finished to himself.

Sasaku shrugged, though her demeanor was certainly not one of indifference. "Sane, insane, human, monster, these labels are not laws of the universe." She noticed his start at the additions. "The instant you heard 'Gorgon' you jumped to the 'monster' label, even though you just saw us working together."

He couldn't deny that. _Legends are, true or not, the basis of Heroic Spirits._

"You know I'm both insane and a monster, right?"

"Aren't you just a visitor trying to get back home?" he asked in confusion, not sure what she meant by attaching those labels to herself like that.

"Yes, or so I thought. But you remember I told you how a number of my memories are missing?" -Something like ninety-five percent.- Shirou simply nodded in order to not interrupt her.

"I hope you had enough faith in me to assume that I wouldn't just leave it at that. But that's a matter for later, we're getting sidetracked."

Sasaku paused for a moment before returning to her initial thoughts. "I'm thinking that, since we're pretty much all-or-nothing here, it would be a good idea to teach Sakura magecraft as well. She's in your position, better or worse depending on how much she can control the magecraft she already has."

"Er, fine, but you mean those shadows?"

"Yes. I'll have you know that they're capable of taking down even Servants, which is exceptional for _any_ human magus. Needless to say, a human would fall prey to it practically instantly."

"I see. Was that the main thing?" he asked as she got up and made her way to the door.

"No, but to avoid repeating myself, I'll wait until Sakura can join us. By the way," she added as he followed her, "If she snaps we'll all probably die. I'm sure you'll make an excellent husband even without that knowledge though."

"What?"

Since she had dropped the ward and already stepped outside into the corridor, Sasaku replied over their link, " _Well I told you before magi guard their secrets very closely? Agreeing open-endedly to share magecraft is, if anything, more binding than deciding to have children. Especially since inheriting magic crests can be finagled somewhat, though I don't know the details._ "

" _Are you screwing with me?_ "

Sasaku opened the door to his room without missing a beat. " _No, entirely serious on all counts. I have to pick Rin's brains on the crests though, her library didn't have anything useful on it._ "

"Medusa," she said out loud, waiting for the Rider's nod in response. "The four of us Servants need to get on the same page, ideally before a crazy giant and heart-piercer get here."

The not-crazy giant simply nodded and put Sakura down. _Wait a moment, why was she cradling her in the first place?_ Shirou wondered as the Servant quite deliberately walked past him and carefully exited the door before turning around. "Take good care of her," she said in a surprisingly gentle tone before leaving.

Sakura blushed. Sasaku only laughed while turning to follow suit, "You do that now, I'll come fetch you to afterwards. Don't worry, I won't barge in if you're _busy_."

* * *

"

* * *

" he asked in annoyance after the door had closed, leaving the two humans alone in his room. " _After dropping all those warnings, now you're just 'Hop in bed together. Have fun!'..._ "

" _Eh, she needs the mana, but more importantly she needs your attention._ "

Shirou glanced at Sakura who was at this point edging towards him. _I can see that,_ he admitted to himself. Though it was still annoying that Sasaku was clearly trying to get Medusa alone, and probably wanted him occupied as well.

Sakura looked up at him hesitantly and hopefully. Their eyes met. And he realized something.

" _Do you have a mirror I can borrow?_ "

* * *

(Sakura)

Sakura noticed immediately when he abruptly averted his eyes, which made her worry in turn. There was a moment of silence as Shirou walked over to his table and picked up something, clearly worrying.

"Is something wrong, Sen-, ah Shirou?" she asked timidly as he handed her the mirror.

"I just thought you should know," Shirou mumbled. She looked into the reflective surface and...

 ** _Oh no._** For quite a while now, her eyecolor had been a very unusual purple, and she had a good guess why. Still, at least no one really gave it a second thought. _But now_ it had clearly deepened, obviously much closer to black. Furthermore, the coloration, _or rather discoloration_ , had spread outwards in a clearly unnatural manner that was impossible to miss. She had a good guess for this, too.

She blinked away sudden tears while simultaneously transfixed by the reflected sight of her, definitely her, inhuman-looking eyes. _Rider turned into a guardian angel and protected me, but I myself..._ she remembered what she had said earlier in her rage. _Ah, so instead..._ "I became the monster," she mumbled.

"No."

She looked up in surprise as Shirou pried the mirror out of her hands and put it down behind him. "I shouldn't have brought it up. It doesn't matter right now."

"What do you mean?" she said in shock at his flat denial. "But it- I-"

"It's nothing," he said harshly, though more directed at himself if anyone. "A scar." He pushed her backwards away from where the mirror was lying. "I'll have Caster fix it for you..." he said, though really addressing himself.

Something hit the back of her legs, and as she tumbled into a sitting position, she realized it was the bed she had been lying on earlier. Sakura looked up at Shirou standing just a little in front of her, looking to have made his mind up over something.

 _He looks so delicious,_ she thought in a daze. _Isn't he going to eat me up?_ She had no idea what she'd do if he turned away from her.

"Huh, what are you doing?" he asked, realizing she hadn't heard him, lost in her own thoughts earlier. His next words, though, crowded everything out of her mind again. They were also the most welcome words she could remember hearing in a long time.

"Go on, take those off."

* * *

l

* * *

 ** _Notes:_**  
Yep, because Medusa turned into a **white** Gorgon, Sakura thinks she looks like an angel, whereas Kuro (and Rin) who know about Gorgon immediately think of her has an automatic threat. But she's not really either.

And Sasaku _delivered_ the mirror onto Shirou's table, she didn't just have one lying there for no reason. If she has access anywhere it's his room as it is precisely the "center" of the Realm. Think of it as the equivalent of a command bunker.


	37. Rule Breakers

**Rule Breakers**

* * *

(Sasaku's room)

(Kojirou)

" _Can you find Kuro and bring her over to my room?_ " was all she had sent, though it raised many questions. A few, like _aren't magi supposed to be really protective of their Workshops?_ were answered once the door opened to show the house's other two resident Servants within. Because there was really nothing out of the ordinary, or really anything at all, inside.

Rider was sitting on the door, while Sasaku was on the bed. Even so, the small Caster still had to look upwards somewhat while talking to Medusa.

"Right then," Sasaku began as Kuro quickly sat down next to her. Kojirou remained standing near the door like a guard until Sasaku waved him over to a chair. When he deliberately ignored the invitation, the piece of furniture lifted up and moved itself over, forming a triangle with Medusa and the bed. "Sit down," she said, sounding amused rather than upset.

Sasaku waited for him to take up the invitation before continuing. "Based on some information from Medusa here, the Grail's general information about magic, and an insightful question from my student, I've concluded a few things about this War which should enable our continued cooperation."

Kuro was the only one somewhat surprised by this. Medusa had been discussing it just before they came in, and of course Sasaku had shared some of her earlier thoughts with Kojirou.

"Why don't you just take it from the top for us?" he asked. _Better to move past any parceling out of secrets._ Though, surprisingly enough, it seemed this was her entire plan in calling everyone together. Still, he noticed the Masters were all absent. _Which could mean any number of things_.

"Major points. The Grail system traps the souls of Servants who die in the War, using them to generate magical energy via the method of the Third Magic. This output is exponentially greater than what is drawn from the leylines and used to summon the Servants."

"So what's it for?" Kuro asked, unexpectedly enough.

"The talk about one winner getting a wish, the complicated multi-stage ritual and repeated attempts despite massive failures suggests they think realizing the Holy Grail and charging it with all that energy will allow, ironically enough, holy grail of magecraft. Reaching the Root."

Kojirou immediately realized that something was off. "But **two** people, one Master and one Servant get wishes, and those could be anything."

"Not necessarily so," Medusa replied in a surprisingly charming voice given her rather frightening appearance. "You would want as much energy as possible to ensure reaching the Root. Most likely, the 'winning' Servant would find themselves _pressed_ into adding that additional push to the process."

"But that's a good point," Sasaku took up, "If it is possible to grant two wishes, and different ones, why not any number of wishes? Especially if they're carefully made to keep within an energy budget. But more importantly, in those cases, it may not be necessary to utilize the Servant 'booster phase'."

"You're intending to rebel against the rules of the Grail War?" Kojirou muttered in a whisper, as though anyone outside the four might otherwise overhear.

Sasaku raised an eyebrow as though that accusation itself was preposterous. "Hmph, the Grail is one thing, but the system they made to realize and power it is another. Besides, I'm sure they had intended to summon Servants and _immediately_ order them to commit suicide, but since even that much power might only -perhaps- allow one magus to reach the Root..."

"The first War began because someone decided to kill everyone else to ensure they got the chance!" Kuro exclaimed. "Or rather, they all had the same idea at once, so it turned into a free-for-all and everyone died."

"Even assuming what you say is true, wouldn't there be safeguards to at least prevent the _Servants_ from working together to hijack the process?" Kojirou frowned, remembering Rin's earlier outburst upon hearing about Gilgamesh. "And the Overseer, Kotomine, would have access to any such measures."

"Based on how he handled the situation at the school, it is likely that their greatest countermeasure is getting the Servants to do it for them," Kuro shrugged, remembering how _that_ had worked out for her. "And he's also cheating, which means _either way_ he will be an enemy."

This conclusion was accepted by everyone.

* * *

"Let's just put all our cards on the table," Sasaku said, moving the conversation along after a silent vote had been taken, and passed unanimously, to attempt to subvert the War. "To avoid degenerating into the situation Kuro described earlier."

She addressed Medusa first. "You want to ensure Sakura's well-being. Praiseworthy, but also much easier than what everyone else wants. We can discuss this later, but Zouken as one of the inventors of the Grail War will definitely be a high-value target, so rest easy."

"The two of you are in a situation where after the War ends, you have no record in the Throne to return to and will thus otherwise simply cease to exist. This can be overcome - just being here means that you essentially already have something like a Saint Graph, but in the Grail's random access memory, rather than the Throne's read only memory."

"What about yourself?" Kojirou asked, genuinely curious. Primarily because he didn't quite understand her story as presented in brief to him earlier. "You're in the same boat."

"I intend to get a copy of myself sent back. I'll be honest that it's probably the hardest wish to grant. If things go wrong I have no expectation that anyone will make it on my behalf though."

 _So that's it,_ he thought. _If multiple 'small' wishes are possible, then cooperation becomes like an insurance plan. As long as one of us survives we can all 'win' in a sense. Provided they don't change their mind at the last moment..._

"Why should going back to be so hard?" Medusa asked. "Even moving across time is not necessarily an issue for the Grail. The Throne also spans all time and space."

Sasaku dropped her bombshell. "The Root? Unless I missed my guess, 'I' passed it on my way here."

"You're saying that the majority of the prana budget would be used on _that_ one wish? No one would agree to that," Kojirou said immediately.

"I haven't laid my card on the table," Sasaku said calmly, as though the outburst was expected. "If we manage to take over the System, there's no issue granting all our wishes and more."

"Yeah, but if you die," Kuro interrupted, "then it all goes down in flames. None of us has a hope of doing that."

"Yes," Sasaku agreed cheerfully. "This is the proposal I wish to make. If we eliminate all the other Servants and I am able to take over the System, I will bring you all back and we can get everything we want. **Everything**."

"Otherwise?" Kojirou did not bother to hide his skepticism.

"Otherwise, I only ask that you do not attempt to get me a permanent record. I can't be given another body due to the terms of my summoning - only the original me can agree to more copies. But most likely if we do this, the World will never allow me to be active again. In that case, a permanent record would only be abused, so it is better to force the Grail to wipe what it has. Which is to say, do nothing, since it will eventually."

"You're burning some serious bridges," Medusa said with a hint of sympathy.

"Hold on," Kuro added. "But you've exactly asked for nothing."

"I was getting to that. In that case, I want something like Medusa. Shirou's well-being."

"I can agree to that!" Kuro said immediately.

"Simple enough," Kojirou nodded in agreement. The significance of what had just happened was not lost on him, however. _For a moment there, it seemed like Sasaku's main priority was planning for her own death._ He didn't buy for an instant that she had _from the start_ wanted Shirou to be taken care of.

* * *

(Sasaku)

After the meeting ended, Kuro and Medusa left. Rider to check up on Sakura, Archer to sound out Rin, most likely. Kojirou remained seated as the two stepped out through the ward, closing the door behind them.

"Are you serious?" were his first words when they were alone.

"If you have any objections, you should have voiced them earlier." She was in a bit of a down mood, even though arguably everything had gone perfectly. The main thing preying on her mind was, of course, Gilgamesh. She didn't know his intentions, but they couldn't risk getting in a fight with him, given the unknown safeguards in the Grail System. Unfortunately, it didn't seem she would be able to avoid him.

"You remind me of some of the samurai women," he said eventually. "Especially when your and Shirou's first request was to defend this 'castle', I could have been convinced your True Name was Tomoe Gozen."

Unsure how to take his words, she simply shrugged, but no further explanation was forthcoming.

* * *

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* * *

(Sakura)

Sakura woke up lightly, feeling more rested than she had for a long time. She wasn't alone, of course, but quite happily so this time. Normally, given the thick blanket being shared by the two of them would have made thing uncomfortably warm, but Sakura hardly minded given the cause.

Stretching languorously against the still-sleeping Shirou at her back, she thought about how -quiet- it was. There was no one badgering her to get up and do something for them, no other voices sharing her head, and even the worms were apparently content, at least for the moment.

Sakura glanced at the clock, some distance away on the table. _It's already pretty late._ Rather defiantly, she tucked the blanket in around the two of them. The trapped body heat was actually quite comforting, to be honest.

" _Are you up?_ " Rider asked quietly. Well, there was at least one person who could talk in her head. " _Just. What happened?_ " It felt somewhat decadent to be holding a conversation while lazing in bed.

" _You guessed right that Caster wouldn't simply follow the rules. She convinced all the Servants to join her wild plan to take over the Grail System._ " Sakura was hardly surprised, since it wasn't a hard guess to make. It was also obvious that Rider counted herself as being in support. " _You think she knows enough to pull this off?_ "

" _If so, she's certainly playing those cards rather close to her chest for someone who just shared quite a lot about the System. Given her attitude towards the Founding Family magi though, I suspect she intends to reverse engineer it._ "

" _Hmm,_ " come to think of it, she had been sleeping right in the middle of Sasaku's Workshop, according to Shirou. But there was nothing of note in his room. " _Well, let me know if anything else happens._ "

Rider agreed before leaving Sakura alone with her thoughts.

And Shirou who was just waking up.

"Good morning," he said softly, putting his arm around her. "How are you feeling now?" Neither took any notice of their naked bodies which this action brought together. Or rather they did, but it just felt _natural_ by this point.

"Very good, thanks," she replied. " _to you..._ " she added before pressing her reddening face against his chest. Shirou didn't say anything, but only ran a hand through her hair.

"Huh, you look different," he muttered while casting his eyes about. Before she could ask what, the two of them spotted Sakura's hair ribbon sitting near the bed's head at about the same time. For some reason, it looked rather suggestive.

Shirou was the one to reach out and pick it up, before handing it over to her. "Better put it on, huh?" he said lightly.

She blushed in response while doing so - the only bit of clothing either of them had on at the moment. Truth be told, when he asked her to take it off earlier that evening, she had felt really naked without it. _Which made no sense given I had already removed everything else by that point, but anyway..._

About then, Sakura realized that her partner was distracted by something, which given her own earlier conversation, was probably Caster getting to business now that he was awake.

"Anything important?" she asked after he seemed to have wrapped up the discussion. Sakura thought that her ribbon was on crooked, but couldn't tell from Shirou's bed as there was no mirror handy.

For some reason, he started as though caught by surprise. "Ah, Sasaku was saying we should expect a battle tonight. Oh also, she offered to teach you magecraft, if you want. There'll be a lesson sometime before evening falls."

"Huh, does that mean she intends to go on the attack... who?" Given what Rider had told her, Sakura could guess but decided to keep that to herself.

"Kotomine, at the church." Shirou paused before adding his own thoughts on the target, "I suppose she decided to go for the gold." It didn't seem unexpected though.

"I see," was all she said, while getting out of bed and picking up the gold-framed mirror. It seemed Kirei had murdered Tohsaka's _well mine as well_ father. Though as Rider had said, war was what it was, and having a good reason to kill is all for the better, if you have decided to do it.

As she looked at her reflected image though, she realized two things. "Shirou, why do you have such a mirror?" The more important one only after she started speaking.

"Er, that's Sasaku's," he said after a moment. It seemed that he had been distracted by... _watching me?_ Sakura laughed. "Right. Can you call her over? I need to get this done before someone gets frightened." She pointed to her eyes.

"Of course," Shirou replied immediately. "Once you've put some clothes on."

"More importantly: **you** ," she replied, about to laugh again as she put the mirror down. "She is a _girl_ after all."

* * *

 _ **Notes:**_  
Sasaku is wrong, of course, about the Grail War being invented by the Founding Families (+Zelretch).

Yep, Medusa immediately told Sakura about the meeting, but you will have to guess what Kuro did or didn't share for her part.

The sun has risen, so for the record this is now the beginning of day 5.


	38. All the World's Grudges

_**All the World's Grudges**_

* * *

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* * *

(Rin)

While Rin was not a "morning person," she was nevertheless awake enough to be hungry by the time Kuro came around looking to call her for breakfast. Passing Kojirou who was inexplicably standing in the corridor, she realized that they were the last ones there.

It was at this point more than a little crowded around the table, which while a bit large for four, was currently set out for six. It would have been even worse if Rider had not taken off on some excuse, seeing how giant she was at the moment.

She did wonder though, about how deep the house's pantry ran, one thing which was cause for curiosity given how its residents basically doubled overnight. It was a small mystery that she could still uncover... or rather that she prompted Kuro to uncover.

"Taiga," was the answer to Kuro's inquiry. "You wouldn't believe how much she can go through."

Sakura was nodding vigorously from her place next to Shirou, having taken advantage of the situation to practically place their chairs on top of one another. By the way, Kuro was on his other side, having stolen it given that Sasaku was currently busy cooking. _Not that it's surprising, given that he and Sakura were probably **busy** last night._

Well, they had to make up for earlier... Rin was still quite discomfited at the memory of being trapped in Sakura's room with them the first time around - while she pretended to be unconscious when Sasaku moved her, she doubted a Servant would be fooled by _that_.

"Hmm," said Kojirou, as a small bowl of miso soup finally broke his disapproval streak with the otherwise non-Japanese fare. "I suppose with this you'd at least get a passing grade as a wife." He glanced at Sasaku who was pouring tea. English, not Japanese, one of the first things he tasted and found unappealing.

Caster just looked amused and replied with her usual soft-but-audible tone "Well I already knew _that,_ " moments before Kuro spoke up, shattering the moment with, "But Shirou-nii made that."

Someone laughed. Rin was somewhat surprised to identify the source as Sakura. "I wasn't going to have her do _everything_ ," he said seriously, which caused her to fall silent for some reason.

"That's right, Sasaku can't cook Japanese food," Kuro added suddenly as though remembering something. "Wait, did you cook everything yesterday as well?"

"You realize that I **can** right?" was all that the Caster said, completely ignoring the second question. Sakura, though, caught it, much to Rin's consternation. "What happened yesterday?"

Shirou shrugged and simply replied for his Servant, "I wasn't in shape to. Well, you can ask Rin for the story later on..."

Putting two and two together, Sakura's brief glare at the culprit made her shiver momentarily. She probably didn't care much about Shirou's Servant, but he himself was a very different matter. Though, there was also something else, but she couldn't tell what.

"Enough of that," Sasaku muttered to herself, though it was unlikely to have been addressed to the cup of coffee she had just finished. "We have more important things to do. Yes, you too _nii-san_ ," she added as Shirou started to frown.

"Hmm, a Masters' meeting?" Rin asked, remembering Kuro's mention of the night's Servant meeting. Though the little Archer had not said so, it was clear there had been more than just planning the defense of Emiya's house.

"Not that, she's teaching us," Sakura said. Dropping a bombshell, or perhaps only for Rin since everyone else seemed either in the knew or didn't grasp the significance of it.

"Uh, what?" was all she automatically while busy thinking.

"Mag-" Sakura started, but Sasaku abruptly cut in with a deliberately airy, "The nature of consciousness and reality. If you behave yourself, I'll take Sakura's opinion on letting you sit in next time."

"What about mine?" Shirou asked, though it was hard to tell if he was amused or annoyed. "I already have _that_ ," Sasaku replied as she directed the group towards his room. _So probably the former._

By that point though, she was actually coming to a conclusion about what Sakura had said earlier. _Damn it._

* * *

(A little while later, at the courtyard)

 _Dismissed._ Not out of caution or even anger, which were both understandable enough, but like dealing with a pet that might get in the way. _**Sakura's** pet._

 _Even Shirou,_ she grumbled, though it was what Sakura had practically bragged about, _her of all people,_ that really got to the brooding magus. "Just because he's fucking her on the side?" she moaned in frustration to no one in particular.

"I might be misunderstanding the modern conventions," Kojirou said suddenly appearing next to her while sipping tea. _Can Sabers even get **((Presence Concealment))**?_ "But are you saying the boy already had another wife? That's quite something."

"What? No."

There was silence for about half a minute. Kojirou seemed to be pondering something, or perhaps just getting ready for another sparring round with Kuro.

"So what's your angle in this?" Rin said, figuring that he might answer or not, but she'd definitely get nothing if it required him to speak first. "You clearly don't like either of them."

He laughed, though less in amusement than a distraction for thinking time, most likely. "Since you've decided to be open about it, I'll follow: don't bother trying to get me to betray my Master."

"I was doing nothing of the sort," she retorted. This seemed to disappoint him, _because he thinks I'm sloppily trying to cover up_ she realized. "Look, you know that I'm literally incapable of doing anything like that, right?"

"Hmm?" This seemed to be news to him.

"I'm in the same boat as you, only that it's _Sakura_ who holds my leash."

Kojirou just blinked and looked thoughtful. "I'm only bound by my word to defend this place," he replied after a moment. "If you thought that Caster had used a Command Spell on me, that would be a different issue."

 _I suppose that makes sense of their interactions_ Rin thought. "Then I guess between the two of us, the Servant is freer than the Master," she muttered bitterly.

"You know, Sasaku said to be careful of you," Kojirou volunteered. A _s though that's supposed to be comforting_.

"I'm less of a threat to her than you are, since I couldn't even think of backstabbing someone if I wanted to. Which I know I probably _should_ , and that's the worst part of it,"

"Is it that subtle?" he muttered, "Or perhaps that weak?"

"What do you mean by that?" she asked wearily as Kuro showed up, rearing to go.

* * *

"Would you mind showing me that move again?" Kuro asked, referring to his triple slash technique from yesterday. _To think he'd show that off. He already knew about Kuro's and was wary of me, but he used it anyway._

"If you'll do the same" Kojirou replied. Both sides were probably thinking about how to add aspects of the other's techniques to their own. Kuro glanced at Rin who simply nodded. She had, after all, her own reasons for wanting to witness both of those in action again.

* * *

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* * *

(Medusa)

A short distance away from the sparring warriors, Medusa rested against the tree occupying a corner of the courtyard with a couple of books. Though the owner of the house had some encyclopedias, the pair of tomes she was holding were most likely from Tohsaka's library given their content - some introductory information on Bounded Fields.

Come to think of it, the fact that she could openly walk around outside the house proper was due to one of those, or rather just "that one" which Caster seemed to use for everything. Apparently she had misjudged it earlier - _was it only about twelve hours ago we were enemies_?

That said, the books were her recommendation, because of the fact that Medusa's Bloodfort Andromeda acted much like a Bounded Field, though on the level of a Noble Phantasm of course. Honestly, she _did_ have Divinity, so picking up magecraft shouldn't be impossible for her.

Especially since, if Sasaku could reverse the odd, and quite unwelcome despite the power boost, change to her form, and was also able to get Kojirou and Kuro's records into the Throne, she might be able to perform _other_ changes and make them "permanent".

Though she hadn't promised any such thing, that in a way made it seem more certain. Magi didn't have the best track record when it came to carelessly making promises.

"Er, hello." Medusa looked up, thankful for the convenience of Gilgamesh's glasses. Not only was being able to read and look about normally quite a novel experience, her Mystic Eyes had, if anything, gotten even more powerful. So much so that containing her previous ones would be praiseworthy enough, making it was a bit surprising that they hadn't simply broken the moment her current eyes had tried looking through them.

Though, if it came from the King of Heroes, it might be some form of the earliest Mystic Eye Killers, so perhaps it was at the level of a Noble Phantasm? Oh right, Kuro was still standing there looking at her. Medusa closed her book and set it down carefully. The thing was of course warded against most forms of mundane damage, but books should be handled with respect. _Especially_ if they were on loan.

"What is it?" she asked, trying to keep a casual and friendly tone. For some reason, while the serious Kojirou didn't seem too upset over having his sword wrecked _well he deserved worse than that_ , the more lighthearted Kuro had only taken a brief glance at her and immediately taken an intense dislike to what she saw.

"I just wanted to say... thanks for joining us," Kuro replied nervously. _Maybe it was more fear than hate? Ah, perhaps she knows about ... **her** (Gorgon). That would explain a lot._

"Don't misunderstand," the Archer added, unsure how to continue when Medusa simply remained silent. "If it had gone downhill, I would have to side with you, just so we're clear on that."

"I see." Was all she said in response. Opting for silence was generally an underrated option, valuable as it was.

"Out of curiosity," Kuro muttered while watching her warily, "Don't you have anything you want that the Grail would be useful for? Otherwise why did you decide to join in a War for it?" _Ah, it's that._

Honestly, it was odd how quickly everyone else had accepted her non-interest, but then again, Caster and Saber were on the same track as it were, and Sasaku had also asked for nothing. _It's like she didn't care much_ , probably because for her the real prize was the whole Grail System, at which point she could get everything anyway.

"Only if you can keep this between us." She hadn't even told Sakura, let alone Shinji. But perhaps it was because of Sakura's state which made most things seem petty and unimportant. Kuro nodded, so she continued. "I want to return to my younger self."

"Oh, not the one I was summoned in," she quickly clarified, seeing doubt entering Kuro's expression. "But before that."

"So, you want to be somewhere around... say, Sakura?"

"Er well, I think my eldest sister would be a little under Sasaku, and my older sister a bit under that. I suppose that means I rightfully would be closer to you."

Kuro thought about this for a moment. "Ah right, Stheno and Euryale, the 'perfect idols'. Hmm, ancient Greeks had excellent taste." For some reason she looked extremely satisfied with this conclusion, somewhat to Medusa's annoyance.

"What about you? They didn't age, but you're _actually_ about twelve, how did you become a Heroic Spirit?" This was not _just_ changing the topic, Medusa was more than a little curious. Not just the one in front of her, or the one in the house, even the King of Heroes was summoned in his youth. It was as though the Grail was encouraging her to realize that wish of hers.

"I'm not," Kuro said finally. "If Kojirou is apparently someone who 'became' a fictional character, as proven by some details about his Noble Phantasm and weapon, then maybe I'm the reverse. Someone else 'became' me instead. I should be little more than some sealed away memories, but maybe like Sasaku, that was enough to become my own person." She seemed satisfied with that. "Yes, my own person. That must be why I also got my own name too."

* * *

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* * *

(Kojirou)

Enjoying some tea which Rin had brewed _at least it's better than English tea, let alone coffee_ he noticed the magus was deep in thought, a contrast with her many earlier questions.

"Did you find your answer?" he asked after a while, thinking of what he had managed to learn about her Servant's technique. Though throwing the paired swords didn't seem required for the teleportation - he could block them without preventing the effect - it seemed likely the ability was linked to the combination Noble Phantasm.

If he 'multiplied' a cut into three swords, she 'divided' space into nothing, and even changed her facing.

"Sort of," Rin said with a grudging tone, interrupting his musings on footwork and swordsmanship. "I guess you showed me that I fell for a master manipulator." That last more than a little bitter.

"Huh?" he replied in confusion. It took him a while to realize she had actually been thinking about Caster, rather than how to cut three ways at once. "You were thinking about that girl the whole time?"

Rin frowned. "I guess that means you don't see it either. Listen, she acts - maybe she is - really easily bullied, but if anything she _wants_ people to underestimate her. She's definitely up to something big and-" she paused as though remembering something critical. "You know about it."

"And you don't," he jabbed back amidst rising irritation. _Just because **you** got cau- wait, Caster wasn't even involved in that._

His tea-companion of the moment was muttering into her cup, "She's _not_ just some little girl, she's... why is it so hard to keep that in mind?"

 _What's this breakdown all about?_ Having finished his drink, Kojirou placed the cup on the tea-serving tray and picked up his Kuro-copied sword.

* * *

(Rin)

 _It must be some subtle effect of the Bounded Field_ she realized. "Don't you think it's odd that she hasn't shown any Noble Phantasm, but does have this odd Field? It wouldn't be surprising if, like Rider's, that spell itself is her Noble Phantasm.

Rather irritatingly, he simply shook his head dismissively. "Caster - **((Territory Creation))** is a standard class Skill. You've only just realized that Servants are on a massive step above humans, even magi?"

"It's not just that," she insisted. "Why wouldn't a Caster's Field work on you? You're both on the same level, so a magus Servant should be able to..."

" **((Magic Resistance))** " Kojirou shrugged as Kuro wandered back over. "Anyway, S..Shirou is asking for your advice on something. He's in his room."

Rin frowned, figuring that it was more likely that _Sasaku_ wanted her for something. Then again, what did it matter?"

"Yeah, tell her I'm on my way."

* * *

When the door to Shirou's room opened, Rin was confused by the sight of Shirou sitting on the room's one chair, while Sakura sat on his bed _cuddling his Servant_. For some reason, the two humans were blushing, which Sasaku studiously ignored.

 _This looks more like babysitting rather than teaching anything._

Shirou noticed her first (well Sasaku probably knew even before Rin touched the door) and got up from his seat. "Since you handled breakfast, I'll take care of lunch," he said, quickly making for the door.

"Well I'm sure Saber will appreciate _that_ ," she quipped, getting a satisfying twitch out of Shirou as he left.

Eying the chair, she sat down without having to be prompted. _So much for Shirou wanting to ask me._ "So, what did you want to know?" she asked, directing the question to the girl Sakura had her arms around.

The casual reply belied its implications: "What can you tell me about transferring magic crests? You have the Tohsaka family one, right?" Rin froze. _Don't tell me that..._

"It's quite a risky process at the best of times," she replied delicately. Sakura was idly playing with Sasaku's hair, but her unconvinced expression seemed threatening.

Rin's mind was rapidly putting pieces together. _If Zouken is still around and running Matou, then he probably didn't pass its crest to Sakura... but wait..._ she hoped that they wouldn't realize she was suddenly sweating.

 _ **Sakura** could take mine._

"You seem to misunderstand," Sasaku said, though it didn't seem to be case at all. "I'm not asking you to perform it, just give me information so I can."

"It's more like surgery than any other ritual," Rin muttered. "I don't even know how it works since Kirei did it and obviously I was not conscious for the procedure..."

"What," Sakura said sharply, "So he ripped it out of... your father's corpse and jammed it in you?" _Wait, she didn't tell Caster that we're... huh?_

"Yes, and I'll use it to kill him," she said bitterly.

"Well, that's about what I was expecting, to be honest," Sasaku concluded, holding still as Sakura fiddled with a dark green hair ribbon. "Do you still want to try it?"

"What are you planning to do?" Rin asked dully, after preparing herself for the worst.

"I'm considering transferring some of my magic circuits to Sakura and Shirou."

" **What.** "

* * *

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* * *

 ** _Notes:_**  
There'll be some explanation of what Kojirou was getting at, though for obvious reasons it won't be him explaining it to Rin.

If you check, there's apparently an actual historical move/technique called Swallow Reversal. It isn't three cuts though - supposedly one cut downwards then one upwards, like a bird flicking it's tail - apparently able to cut birds, Kojirou says you need to cut from three different angles to accomplish this. Kojirou already explained about his sword being different too.

It's a rather amusing parallel how Kojirou "cuts really fast" (actually has three swords out in the same instance) while Kuro could say she simply "moves really fast" (actually teleports).  
As for if they can combine those techniques or combo together or something else, have a go with your imagination :)

At least you can "certainly" get Medusa and Euryale in FGO (they're both 3-star rarity). So they can meet, and well Stheno, heh... you know how gatcha RNGs are.


	39. Knowledge

**Knowledge**

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(Shirou's room, after breakfast as seen in the last chapter)

(Sakura)

"Now that Tohsaka's probably distracted with whining about me," Caster said once Sakura closed the door behind the three of them, "We can cover some super-critical things."

The girl Servant sat down on the bed and motioned the other girl over. As Sakura approached her, she realized that _someone_ had cleaned up. Not that she had left it messy, but still by the time she had Shirou had left for breakfast the sheets were still... well, dirty. But what she sat on seemed freshly aired.

"What?" Sasaku said upon noticing Sakura's surprise. "The cost is basically zero - oh, I see. Well even goddesses like to have fun with their husband every now and then."

Shirou simply shrugged like _I'm not even surprised_ , but he only said "So, are you finally going to tell us what your goal is?"

"To the point." Sasaku nodded in approval. "I've been working through what scraps are left of my memories, and my conclusion after some thought is: **I** personally don't really have a goal. It's like a reverse Trojan horse, or something."

"Meaning?" Shirou didn't seem surprised by either of those points, though it was news to Sakura. He had only mentioned to her that his Servant came from _far away_ , but apparently it was because he, and even the person herself, didn't know.

"Think about telemarketers. The moment you pick up the phone, that alone already gives them valuable information - that the number goes to someone."

Sakura blinked, "You're a telemarketer?"

"No, I'm the phone call. I mentioned to you that I can't 'come back' without a couple of specific exceptions, right?" Shirou nodded. "That means a contract of some sort was signed, which means there's someone - here - able to sign a contract."

"So what does that mean though? Your home country knows there's someone out there?" By the sound of it, Shirou didn't get the point any better than Sakura did.

"Pretty much. Which means they'll be coming..." Sasaku shrugged as though it didn't matter. "But we're probably talking geologic time scales, if not cosmological. I'll be honest, it's unexpected that I'd find myself here."

"Wait a second, you sent yourself, uh what?"

"A telemarketer might calls more phone numbers than are actually in use. Don't be surprised if there's more than just one. The fact that I, a copy, am here means that there are likely many, many other copies. And besides..." she trailed off thoughtfully before continuing.

"That I came up with it probably means my original would have. It's also likely that the reason I have only 5 percent or so of my memories but still maintain a coherent cognitive state is because the one removing them was, well, me. Not by the World as I first suspected."

* * *

(Shirou)

"One moment," Shirou interrupted at this point. "I _saw_ a dream or something of you being copied. Do you remember anything after that point?"

"No. Which makes sense, remember I'm from the copied one, not the original, so that would be expected."

"Right," he decided that, since it was confusing to no real purpose, to just drop the topic. "Magecraft now."

"Yes. After reading through Tohsaka's library-"

"You read through all that? It's been less than a whole day since then!" Sakura exclaimed in surprise. Shirou simply frowned, remembering that his Servant had mentioned the library was lacking, and paired with Rin's comment that it had been stolen from, _that isn't good_.

"The fact is that," Sasaku sighed, "When it comes to this world's magecraft I would basically be at your level, as my use of comparable powers, at home that is, don't follow rituals or spells like magi here use."

"But you can even do housework with magecraft?" Sakura asked, receiving a nod. "That's due to the **Sorcery Attribute** I have. Which works with a combination of knowledge and an act of will. the problem is I cannot transfer it to you, _unless_..."

* * *

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* * *

(At the end of the previous chapter, so after Rin came in and Shirou left)

(Rin)

" **What.** "

"If I understand the process correctly, magic circuits can be crystallized into a **Magic Crest** that among other things, allows _Sorcery Attributes_ to be transferred onward. Is that accurate?"

"Yes." _Though that isn't the real issue._ "But like I said, that is a risky process at best, and you're a Servant at that."

"Do you know what my Sorcery Attribute is?"

"Er, no," Rin admitted.

"A variant of **Alchemy** , the opposite of Einzbern's **Wish-Granting,** it allows performing 'mysteries' that I can understand. Actually, mundane things as well - those are really cheap." Sakura nodded in agreement while cheerfully combing Sasaku's hair with a... _gold comb?_

"Throwing spears at near the speed of sound?" she asked, remembering the attacks that had harassed Lancer in the earlier fight, and had apparently mauled Rider.

"That's actually something else, but yeah I can pick up things since, you know, standard physics applies pretty well." Sasaku demonstrated by floating a pillow over Sakura's head before dropping it back in place. "Because it's hardly mysterious at all, the cost is nearly zero. Somehow. I don't know what the equivalent of Conservation of Energy is when magical energy is involved."

"There's odd gaps in the World's rules," Rin explained, having asked similar questions herself. "If you try to abuse one too much, the World takes notice and will squeeze you, as it were. But yes, you can _get away_ with things, as long as it's small."

"Do you have any spells you can pass on through a Crest?" Sakura asked after a moment as though it just occurred to her. "If you don't have normal spells, what does that look like?"

"Hmm, you're right there," Sasaku muttered. "While I effectively use a spell, the process that takes place in my will cannot be copied over as the format would be unintelligible to you. At best. But I think if you use the circuit and develop your own 'acts of will' you'd be able to pass those down."

Rin didn't miss Sakura coloring at the mention of passing down crests. _I guess Kojirou was right, they're really serious, huh?_

"I still don't understand how you intend to integrate a Servant's Crest into a normal human though," she said after a while. "I can't think of any reason why that might not be instantly fatal, given that the spirits involved are on completely different levels."

"Actually," Sakura spoke up with sudden confidence, "It might be easier if you think of it as less of an organ transplant, but rather like binding a familiar. Servants are familiars of a sort, after all."

"Yes, but even that requires the Grail to mediate, and even then you only really get those specific Command Spells, that use a lot of energy. It's why we're limited to three."

"Did Medusa say she thought that would work?" Sasaku asked. Sakura nodded. Apparently the Rider had been in on their discussion as well.

It was about that point that she realized that Shirou's absence might not be coincidental. Rin was growing suspicious when Sakura concluded "Really, it seems like I'm the natural choice for this."

 _ **He** wouldn't do something like this, but if she's going behind his back..._

This odd scene made sense even if Sasaku knew about the relationship between Sakura and Rin, _if_ she primarily wanted to increase Shirou's capabilities. Unfortunately, while the Caster might have any number of reasons, the fact was it put Sakura at risk.

"I can't agree to help you with that," Rin sighed though she also felt a rising sense of irritation. "What you're proposing is little more than a dangerous experiment."

* * *

(Sakura)

"What would you know about that?" Sakura snapped at her, much to Rin's surprise. "I'm not having _you_ get in my way."

 _Crest._ What Medusa suggested had probably stumbled on _exactly_ what Zouken did with his worms, and explained his choice of familiar. _Crest._ The **irony** of Rin saying she disapproved of someone experimenting on her! At least Sasaku actually intended to give the.. _Crest._

"No." Sakura said as Rin was about to speak, but she was actually speaking more to herself than anyone else. Her confrontation with the Count, and its ending, had frightened her quite a bit. _It isn't for me, it's because I **am** the better choice. _Also, if it worked, Shirou could get the same as well, so it wouldn't take anything from him. Sakura nodded to herself, satisfied.

"There's a few things even _you_ don't know," she said out loud. "It will work."

Rin's stubborn expression softened. "You might be confident of that, but unless you are willing to share, I literally can't help in such a process, because of, _you know_."

 _Ah._

"No, don't. It might help if I said I **would** do it regardless, and your cooperation would only reduce any risks involved," Sasaku said before Sakura could reply. "Or, you know, you could just make an exception for this one thing," she commented.

* * *

l

* * *

(Medusa)

 _It seems Sasaku is genuine_ the Rider thought to herself. Unlike Rin's misgivings, Medusa had every confidence after seeing Sakura binding the spirit that had tried to take over her. Compared to that, binding a small and non-sentient bit of one would be trivial in comparison. _Especially if it is being willingly given up specifically to be absorbed._

 _S_ he suddenly had a bad premonition about Sakura absorbing more into herself. _As a matter of fact..._ Medusa felt a chill as she checked for a bit and realized her connection with Sakura was not, as earlier, being primarily mediated through the Grail.

 _Was it **really** absorbing the curse that changed me? I wasn't doing any of that from the time I was injured until I came out, **already** like this._ Furthermore, based on what had happened afterwards, Sakura actually _could_ bind spiritual beings on the level of Servants.

As abruptly as it came, the tension left Medusa. After all, Sakura didn't seem to be unstable, even if her priorities were rather focused on Shirou. To be honest it felt good to be able to rest for a bit with a book and not have to worry every moment.

 _I wonder if being more of an actual familiar means it might be possible to stay on after the War?_

* * *

l

* * *

 ** _Notes:_**  
Somehow I wonder if Medusa is a bit over-optimistic.

Things like Sasaku's Realm Creation and Thousand Layered Shield(s) are Skills, not spells, so they can't be added to a Magic Crest.


	40. Off the Rails

**Off the Rails**

* * *

(Fuyuki Church, evening - after the last battle)

(Illyasviel von Einzbern)

The homunculus watched the one human in the church's expression develop as the King of Heroes related seeing Jeanne d'Arc at Fuyuki Park. It seemed as though the magi-turned-priest was considering jumping on this threat immediately. _Too bad that, for all his Overseer-level access, he doesn't know that an actual Ruler was summoned well before Assassin._

When Kotomine showed off Gilgamesh, probably both to impress/intimidate her as well as demonstrate that he, too, had a Servant, it all but proved her long-held suspicion that he had been responsible for Father's death.

* * *

i

* * *

(Flashback: Shortly before the final battle of the last Holy Grail War)

Father checked his favorite two weapons again before nodding to the nearby maids. "I'm trusting you to send her back safely." They nodded and left to fetch the various piece of packed luggage.

"Is there really no other option?" she had asked yet another time once the two of them, and Artoria of course, were alone. Father simply exhaled and glanced at his Servant for some help.

Artoria shook her head, fingers tightening on the shaft of her spear as thoughts of the upcoming battle filled her mind. "Gilgamesh's Master is highly unlikely to agree with our assessment, and without... proof... the best chance to avert disaster is to strike quickly rather than show ourselves."

Father's eyes darted side to side for a moment, "Going straight for the Grail before it fully materializes..." he mused at his two Command Seals, cutting off as one of the maids returned with three coats in hand. The smallest, a thick purple one for colder climates went to her.

The largest, with hidden compartments and straps for ammunition, firearms and more, went to Father.

The longest, but lightest, went to Artoria, who threw it on over her brilliantly white dress while trying not to look too much at it. Although she had been there when Mother had bought the garment, in the end the Servant would be its only wearer.

Illyasviel hesitated when the maid took her hand. Success or not, Father was unlikely to be able to see her again. _I know that, but-_ she tried to reassure herself with Mother's last words to Father: "Take care of them." It couldn't be her and Artoria, so he had to survive, at least...

"I'll be waiting," she told Father at last, trying to hold back tears that wouldn't help their parting. As it was, he had wanted to send her away earlier just to be sure of her safety. He nodded, though his expression didn't change much. Father had already switched on his combat discipline.

"Take care of him," she asked Artoria, who nodded and tried to give a confident smile.

...

Neither of them returned. Fuyuki's theater and large parts of the city burned as through struck by the wrath of a god. But Illyasviel knew it meant -Father won-.

* * *

(Several months later)

"I... have a brother?" she asked in shock as Mother's words returned to her in an instant. "How is that possible? You said he died right after the War-" Her accusing tone asked the Einzbern magus who was her current guardian the real question.

"Apparently he decided to save a boy from the fire," the man responded, uncaring. "We were wondering about him as well. Did you meet any boys your age during the War?" _Ah, so **that's** why you brought it up._

"No." She answered directly. Though she had been interested in meeting Alexandros and Gilgamesh, everyone had made sure it never happened.

"Are you sure nothing comes to mind? You know that boy has now disinherited you?"

 _More like Father wanted to keep it out of **your** hands_ she thought while saying nothing. While homunculi matured faster than humans, her own odd "origins" meant she looked her age, meaning that as Father had expected, the Einzbern magi thought of her more like a troublesome child rather than someone who could understand their careless attempts to manipulate her.

"There must be some reason for him to do such a thing," the magus muttered as though to himself, leaving the unsaid implication in the air.

"Of course, it's Father after all," she said with a heartfelt pride, while pretending not to catch on. She was pretty sure, though, that the boy was Father's final proof of his life philosophy.

 _That's right, even if it was only one boy, he saved him because it was the best he could do._

* * *

i

* * *

(Present day)

"Hate and revenge are not the best reasons to kill someone," Father had told her and Artoria once, in one of their little discussions after Artoria had been arguing with Alexandros and Gilgamesh about being a king again. "But, they are not necessary reasons to do so either."

"So, are we going to chase Jeanne?" Illyasviel asked pointedly. While Kotomine was worried because Jeanne d'Arc was usually a Ruler and might thus be able to interfere with his plans, the fact that a holy saint Servant was using fire and stakes to fight was proof of a bigger truth...

Though the mere ten years since the last War was already very suggestive, Assassin's state meant that the Grail had been neither destroyed nor cleansed. _It's ironic, that a Servant like Lu Bu has been pushed into being a hero of justice._

Although, that didn't give enough credit to her own rather masterful, if it was fair for the person herself to say so, manipulation of the Madness Enhancement portion of a Berserker summon. As it was, she still felt a little upset that to be sufficiently certain that his **((Nature of a Rebellious Spirit))** "Skill" was disabled, it was necessary to give up a number of his higher thought functions. In any case though, she had read up on his history and made sure to avoid behaving like the many people who had met their end in him.

"Are you going to work with me properly this time?" Kotomine shot back, probably feeling a little needled. Though he had been grumbling a lot about Lancer's failure to take out Jeanne, in truth it seemed he felt _well at least Lancer will do what I say_ in comparison to Gilgamesh who did whatever he pleased.

Listening to the priest practically scream when he realized the very independent Archer had simply let Emiya's Caster go was rather amusing, though not only for his fustraction. From what she understood at the time of the previous Grail War, Gilgamesh had apparently been quite taken with Artoria for some reason, and though he was not particularly off-put by her polite refusals in the several meetings of their Three Kings Alliance group, any hope had definitely been lost when he killed Alexandros.

It wasn't like one of those love triangles in light novels. Probably. Rather, Artoria had been very upset that the 'mutual agreement between monarchs' had been broken, and furious when Gilgamesh refused to explain himself other than saying it was an honorable duel (though apparently he overwhelmed Rider). Putting everything together, it was clear that Kotomine probably used a Command Spell on him.

 _Still, did people in ancient Uruk court girls by challenging them to swordfights?_

"Let's go." Kotomine suddenly announced. "With luck, Emiya's group will be busy regrouping after that failure of yours."

She frowned in annoyance, but was glad he didn't seem to have realized her aim was to get Tohsaka alone in order to extract information from her. The Einzbern's and his story didn't match up well, and she had every suspicion he was also lying to them in his secret reports in order to position everything for his aims in this War.

 _Given that Father put everything down to stop him last War, I'll have to make sure he gets put down for sure this time._ She nodded to the priest as Lu Bu appeared and picked her up. Of course Kotomine would have to walk to the park.

" _That man underestimates our power,_ " Lu Bu sent over their mental link. " _In every age, there are such fools._ "

" _You've already proved you are stronger than Cu Chulainn,_ " she sent back. " _Wouldn't the legendary Jeanne d'Arc be an interesting opponent?_ "

" _Better than that girl, at least,_ " Berzerker grumbled.

Illyasviel's eyes widened slightly in anger as she remembered how **that** Archer had spoken so familiarly about her parents. But who was she? Gilgamesh had said her True Name was Kuro... he seemed to know more than he let on.

* * *

i

* * *

 **Notes:**

I know I said earlier that the events of Kiritsugu's Grail War were different from FateZero, but since pretty much everyone is dead (or returned to the Throne) besides Illya and Gil, they're pretty much the ones who'll go into it I guess A bit awkward since she didn't directly witness most of the "story beats" on the battlefield. Gil and Illya haven't been talking though thanks to his NPs he knows about her.

In this story, Kuro's True Name is indeed "Kuro" though elsewhere it would actually be "Kuro/Chloe von Einzbern".

At this point, we've met the regular seven Servants and Gilgamesh, but not Ruler.


	41. Journey of Flowers

**Journey of Flowers**

* * *

(In the way to Fuyuki Park)

(Illyasviel)

As the group of five ("I doubt you actually intend to fight though," Kotomine said to Gilgamesh) made haste to the park, Illya noted that they weren't particularly slowed down by the priest's speed. _It seems he, too, has taken to heart the need for physical training._

Unfortunately for her, while certainly there were homunculi with above-human physical traits, she wasn't one of them. That said, she _was_ beyond the frontier of homunculus-creation, since it was apparently impossible to make a brother or sister to her without them having at least some capabilities well below her own.

It wasn't the worst trade-off though. Though it pushed even her limits to do so, sustaining such a powerful Servant as Berserker Lu Bu while also maintaining a useful level of control was only possible this way. The Einzberns had even arranged for additional help in the form of Kotomine Kirei, though it was almost certain he had been playing them from the end of the previous War.

 _I wonder if this was what Artoria's "adventures" (missions) with Father were like,_ she thought. _Probably not, since she had that Gift,_ **((Journey of Flowers))** _._

Although they didn't know it at the time, due to having researched the related-but-different Heroic Spirit of (adult) Artoria Pendragon, that passive skill lifts the hearts of anyone involved on one of her "journeys". It was a subtle effect compared to powerful skills like **((Charisma))** and its variants, but by her estimates affected not just Father, but also Mother, Maiya, Illya herself and even all the maids in the castle. The possibility existed that it also enabled the Three Kings Alliance to continue as long as she was in it.

While it was not possible to fully research all such things, with her current connection to the Grail and Artoria's involvement in the previous War, she could see some details, such as they were, about the Gift. _Frightening in the sense of being non-direct,_ Illya thought. There was a chance that, even now a decade later, she herself was still on that Journey. It was certainly true that thinking about those days was extraordinarily comforting.

* * *

"What does it mean to be a hero, as opposed to a king?" Artoria had asked suddenly one day as Father joined Illyasviel in observing the Einzbern Servant practice her swordwork.

Kiritsugu seemed taken aback for a moment at the question abruptly sent his way. "Isn't your main weapon the spear?" he asked back instead.

"Oh, there isn't enough room here to practice tilting with that," she replied straightforwardly. Before Father could make a quick retreat though, Illya quickly indulged her own curiosity on the topic by adding, "You didn't answer Artoria's question."

It wasn't just her, Mother didn't exactly understand Father's particular philosophy either. Though she had guessed it might be due to being a homunculus, Irisviel had strictly warned her daughter about mentioning this to her husband. _But Artoria is a human so surely she can understand it_ was Illya's thought at the time.

"You want to become a king, why ask about heros?" he responded rather than answer.

"Well, Merlin's Skill for raising a king is called **((Hero Creation))** so I was wondering if it meant anything." She paused and put away her weapon. "And I just felt like I had to ask."

Kiritsugu sighed, " **((Instinct))** works off the battlefield too, I see." Father took a moment to think over his answer before finally giving it. "I suppose that one would have a cause as a hero, but not necessarily as a king. Hmm, your cause _is_ 'to become king' though?"

"At yesterday's Alliance meeting, Gilgamesh said that it was impossible, as there's already king-Me in the Throne of Heroes, with I myself specifically the before-becoming-King-Me."

"Does that mean its possible to meet your future self?" Illya thought it would be an interesting encounter, but Artoria shook her head. "The World, or specifically, **this** World doesn't seem to like duplicates, Gil was quite certain about that, probably because he hates his adult self."

"Isn't that a problem?" Kiritsugu mumbled to himself. "It was odd enough, since Servants don't develop further, but even if you used the Grail for that, current-you would still be in the Throne as the Knight Princess."

"Not exactly," Artoria countered, taking out her spear. "There's a Skill called **((Self-Reform))** that 'before'-type Servants can gain. It allows for development in what you might consider the normal way. Take this **((Rhongomyniad))** , it has future forms more powerful than **((Caliburn))** which might be why I was summed as a Lancer, even though currently I don't know the specific uses for this Noble Phantasm. Merlin said it could even be more powerful than **((Excalibur))** so similarly it is possible adult-me could also be a Lancer if she had the full use of this."

The Servant fell silent and let her spear dematerialize. "And anyway, the the other part of that, the fact that Camelot already fell centuries ago..." It was a touchy subject for her ever since coming up in the first Alliance meeting. In a way, all three before-Kings were in similar situations, though Gilgamesh wasn't sure if he cared to build a new Uruk, and Alexandros really liked the idea of conquering a new empire, from scratch this time.

"So... you're looking for a cause to become a hero, is that it?"

"I suppose." Artoria's direct statement was more than enough.

"I'm beginning to think a hero of justice can't actually exist in this world," was all he was willing to say on the subject.

* * *

l

* * *

"Gilgamesh, I had a question," she said to the Archer who didn't look nearly as gold-covered as Artoria had mentioned.

"Really." He didn't seem surprised at all by the request. "I might have an answer."

"Did you make up with Artoria before the end?"

"What?" _Oh that actually did surprise him._ "Is it my fault now? She blew up **my** Grail, which was a far greater injury than anything I did to anyone."

"How did that even happen?" Kirei poked his shoulder. "I thought you'd be able to stop her."

"She broke her sword at it," Gilgamesh grumbled, though perhaps with a bit of humor in it. "I thought she was going to fight me when she took it out, but instead she overcharged it, Command Spells probably, and took out the Grail while I was prepared to defend myself against it. Expected that she would use the really powerful Holy Lance for something like that, but apparently not."

* * *

l

* * *

"Gil had a message for you," Artoria said to her Master after returning from one of the Alliance meetings.

"That's somewhat concerning," he muttered.

"He said, ahem ' _If you love saving people, you should try saving humanity over and over until you're sick of it_ ' and then he laughed and said ' _Become one of Alaya's dogs, that's basically their job description_ ,' I think it was," she relayed the message in a not-convincing attempt at a boy's voice.

"I'm guessing you had Merlin's help to pass as a man," Father said while digesting this unexpected bit of 'advice'. "That shouldn't be possible for humans of the modern age though? Are you sure he meant that for me?"

Artoria frowned, "He immediately said it wasn't for me, since..." she rolled her eyes in exasperation at the memory. "Heroic Spirits don't even get married _after_ becoming one! This wouldn't happen if it was adult-Me who looked like a man."

"My, my, you shouldn't think that," a suddenly-appearing Irisviel said. Father immediately rushed over to support her. "You know in at least some of the stories he and Enkidu had themselves some 'male bonding' time."

"You shouldn't exert yourself unnecessarily," Father said, but she shrugged it off. "In the first place it wasn't due to..." she paused upon realizing her daughter was there, just a little behind Artoria. "I take it your stake-out wasn't successful today. Let's sit down rather than standing around the entranceway."

* * *

l

* * *

News of the War's end reached the Einzberns in Germany faster than Illyasviel did. It was fortunate that they thought of her as another one of their 'assets' and... **wait**

It wasn't just mere good luck, the main family _had_ to have known about the timing of this War, because if it had come on the regular cycle, Illya would never have survived long enough to take part. Compared to several decades between Wars, if this had occurred just a year or two later, all their efforts would have been wasted.

 _Regardless, they gave me everything I needed. Especially information, though they got some bits wrong._

She had come to Fuyuki expecting to find a rather mundane "Shirou" but her various plans were thrown into disarray upon discovering that he was not only a magus, but also a Master. _This could open up some new possibilities_ she had thought when Gilgamesh revealed this to them. She had been silently thoughtful about this rather than upset by Berserker and Lancer's failed attempt to grab Tohsaka, as Kirei might have imagined.

Now, Gilgamesh had only volunteered his knowledge of the group _after_ that battle, which was very suspicious. _Come to think of it, Father had a rather sizable group in the last War, all of them women too. And everyone but me in this group is a man._ She pushed away the irrelevant thought.

The main problem was that her little brother had gathered up four Servants, which while that drove Kirei into a bit of a tizzy at the thought, meant that at any moment they might fall into the same dilemma the first Grail War participants had; everyone pre-empting the others to the backstab.

 _Mother's last words can't have been for Father, or rather... they weren't **only** for him._ Various options were possible, especially since Kirei had directly demonstrated it was possible to keep even a Servant like Gilgamesh around for a decade.

It would have been nice to summon Artoria for this, but Avalon wasn't on Father's corpse and thus was lost to the Einzberns. Lu Bu had been the best choice going into this affair, but he would be extremely hard to support after the War's end.

 _But if we had the use of a Caster Servant..._ furthermore, she was Shirou's Servant which made it much easier to fit everything together.

 _I may not seek revenge on the family for dragging Father and Mother's name through the mud. I may not hate them for thinking to use me as a final snide joke to wipe out both Father's name and line at once. But there are many good reasons to neutralize the lot of them._

She nodded to herself and glanced at Gilgamesh. The boy just smiled at her in a fetching, but disturbingly knowing way. "Emiya is mine," he said, putting to rest any question about what he knew. He wasn't talking about her brother.

 _To think, Father's line had a Heroic Spirit as an ancestor. Maybe this is Fate's way of paying us back for the loss of what was left of the Emiya magic crest. Then again, we'd have to deal with..._

Gilgamesh simply kept on smiling as though he didn't care about what anyone thought or did as long as he got _his_ desired prize.

* * *

As they reached the edge of the park, two figures appeared in front of them, prepared for a fight. The Servant, Assassin Jeanne d'Arc, was carrying a spear with something wrapped around the top third of it. _Ah that must be her banner Noble Phantasm,_ **((Luminosité Eternelle))** _. Which means that sword is the self-sacrificial_ **((La Pucelle))**.

Her Master, equipped with only her fists, was wearing a smart suit that clashed somewhat with her gloves. _But it seems they have been reinforced by runes like the ones Lancer uses._

Lu Bu let his small rider to the ground and took out his massive halberd. Kirei was about to say something, but was interrupted by the opposing Master.

She pointed a gloved finger at Lancer. "Cu Chulainn, I challenge you to-"

* * *

l

* * *

 **Notes:**  
We will actually hop back to the Emiya house for two chapters before seeing the battle against Jeanne and Bazette unfold. Mostly because these bits were "Illya's plans/information" and the next ones are "Emiya faction's plans/information". Then both sides' actions follow, though I'll admit the interleaving is in the telling, not chronological as the Jeanne fight is approximately 3am Sunday while the Emiya faction's next major move is at say 6pm Sunday.

As a minor historical fact, it seems that at the time Phillip of Macedon (Alexander's father) was considered highly for having "unified" the Greeks, his son who "only" defeated the Persians with that unified Greece was not viewed necessarily as highly back at home. Like how the Macedonians took Phillip to be a god, but not for Alexander (the Egyptians/Persians did). That's sort of what was being referenced.

So in this story, rather then Kiritsugu having the hero of justice talks with Shirou (because he died very soon after the War's end) he actually had it with Artoria Lily instead. If you were wondering she has both Dun Stallion and Lamrei, but they're smaller than the ones adult Lancer Artorias use (ie: to Lily's scale).


	42. Kingdom of Flowers

**Kingdom of Flowers**

* * *

(Continuing from the chapter: Knowledge)

(Sunday, approx 3pm. Emiya estate, Shirou's room)

(Sakura)

Rin and Sakura dueled with sideways glares for a moment, until Sasaku got up and deliberately walked in between them. "Hold that thought," Sasaku said, "At least until ah there you are." She waved over Shirou who had returned after she called him back over their mental link.

After a moment, he closed the door behind him and sat down on the bed next to Sakura. "Is this that important?" he asked with some irritation. Sasaku just shrugged and pulled a chair out of her Armory, except that it was a rather ornate one that looked to be made of marble and obsidian with silver inlays.

"Look," she said directly, "I forget sometimes you don't have the benefits of network intelligence, what with these handy telepathic links."

"Er, what's this about?" he responded with confusion dominating.

"You **did** hear about the Servants' discussion from Sakura?"

"I told him when he woke up," Sakura answered. "Since Rider and I share a link, I had all the details by then."

"Mhm. Well I knew you were up first since Rider mentioned it to me. Well I do understand if you suspected I was trying to keep it from you, but that would be a fairly ludicrous proposition from my position."

Sakura shared a confused look with Shirou. _I have no idea why she got so serious suddenly_ , though she simply asked the obvious question; "But what is network intelligence?"

"A trick to allow multiple individuals to co-mingle cognitive processes. For example, someone might be able to simply 'remember' a relevant fact that separately I, but not they, might know." She grinned, "Since it works on a resonance-type mechanism, some husbands and wives have found other uses for it. But I digress. Saber seems to think I'm being tightfisted with teaching you. And while I wonder how he come to that conclusion..." she glanced sideways at Shirou,"I must admit that he and Kuro are burning through an impressive amount of magical energy trying to swap techniques, so I probably come off as slacking in comparison."

"So that's why-!" Rin muttered angrily. "Although I wanted to be there to watch..." Sakura blinked in surprise at this bit of information.

"Well, anyway I changed my mind, Tohsaka can stay."

"Really?" her enthusiasm was immediately stomped upon though. "Unfortunately, you probably won't be able to use it. You can try though." Based on Rin's expression, it seemed she took it as a personal challenge. _I guess that's to be expected._

"I'll start with the following three necessities, I guess you could call them the trifecta, triumvirate, trinity, ah let's go with triangle." Sasaku held up three fingers and ticked them off, "Authority, Understanding and Magical Energy."

Caster gently curved her fingers around a worked silver cup that appeared. "Anyone want a drink? Seems I have varieties that exist in this age, but hmm, none from home. Typical." She took a sip. "I don't even really like wine." After tapping the cup on her armrest she took another sip.

"We're underage you know," Shriou said, but Sasaku just shrugged and replied, "I know that, I was asking if you wanted any. We don't have your drinking age back home."

"How is this relevant?" Sakura questioned, realizing _it's clearly not a random diversion_. "The laws there don't apply here."

"But they do for some definition of here," was the reply. " **((Realm Creation))** and **((Authority))** are inseparably linked. If there is no Realm, the Authority applies to nothing. Without Authority, what defines the Realm?"

Sakura and Rin looked at one another as the same thought came to them, namely _but a Servant's Skills are particular not to them, but also the class vessel they are in._

"Long story short, **((Realm Creation))** is the equivalent of changing something so that it has the state of 'being in my home civilization,' if only partially. It has a cost to maintain because obviously the World prefers not to have bits of itself being annexed away, as it were. Thus, my Authority works inside it."

"But you never said _what_ your Authority covers?" Rin asked.

"Everything that I would have had permission to do, subject to (magical) energy costs, obviously. The main conceptual limit though, which is what you're asking, is 'things that do not go against the tenets of my civilization' as well 'being inside'. I will point out that your magecrafts, as they do not exist at home, are therefore by default not forbidden."

"You were shooting spears outside," Shirou pointed out.

"Indeed, and while some forms of Thaumaturgy are territorially limited, you mustn't think overly much about the area concept." Sasaku nodded. "The Bounded Field we are in is one mechanism of actualizing of the Realm, by pulling space into it. I myself, as a member of the civilization, must be inside it, as a result the Realm must at least also exist within the space of my body. And since the boundaries of the Bounded Field are a bit fuzzy, I can affect some of the space physically surrounding me. Think of it as a nation's territorial sovereignty, as well as people holding citizenship."

"That's why you had to touch Rider's Field foci to break them!" Rin exclaimed, having wondered about that for some time. "Pretty much, those are concentrated points which assert to the World 'such-and-such space is inside the Bloodfort Andromeda' and after taking control of that space, I simply said 'it does not'." Sasaku clarified. "But for throwing spears, I only need to get the thing moving. It's a fairly normal physical object past that point. Now, the World crushes them out of existence afterwards, due to being tagged as 'items inside the Armory' while being outside, so I can't reuse them."

"But a thaumaturgy is weak if there's very few people who believe in it," Rin added thoughtfully. "You still have an attack that harms Servants."

"Yep," Sasaku cheerfully agreed. "Unless some significant fraction of humanity decides to believe in this, you're restricted to Realm-Authority mechanics. But as it is possible to deputize, I can hand down a certain amount of it. If you absorb a portion of my magical circuits, it also should function similarly to having someone's password to access their computer."

* * *

"I'll skip the second part for the moment. Magecraft runs off magical energy, which sometimes here in the east they call Prana, but anyway think of it as another type of energy." Shirou nodded, perhaps due to having heard his Servant's updates on the amount of energy being stored.

"In a way, we think of the energy stored in our bodies as different from the chemical energy in gasoline. You eat food, you generate magical energy, that sort of thing." Sakura and Shirou assented to this easily, though by her frown Rin disagreed somewhat.

"Anyway, there's basically two types, sources of this, the planet itself generates **mana**. While in the Age of the Gods it suffused even the air, in modern times gathering a good amount is mostly restricted to leylines. Isn't that right Tohsaka?" Sasaku abruptly tossed a question in her direction.

"Yes," Rin nodded. "Fuyuki is important as one can access several leylines in this area. Only, due to being in the East, it was largely overlooked except by Zelretch and those involved in the Holy Grail project. Fuyuki's leylines are in many ways the Tohsaka's biggest contribution to the Grail system."

Sasaku nodded her thanks and took up her explanation. "The other major source comes from yourself, **od** via magical circuits. Mana continues to decrease in availability, which brings up a natural question." She paused to smile at Rin before posing her next question. "Where do magic circuits come from?"

"Magic circuits are part of a magus' soul, and also have a physical manifestation like the nervous system, but for channeling magical energy." Rin answered quickly. "But it's not possible to change what you have from birth."

"Except via magic crests," Sakura added with a frown, thinking about their earlier discussion on the topic.

"Don't be distracted by that," Sasaku murmured. "But where do the circuits 'you have from birth' come from?"

"Well, it's a matter of descent," Rin said, slightly uncertain what exactly she was being asked. "Older lineages tend to be more powerful, which is to say more and/or better quality circuits."

"That's not it," Caster returned with an amused tone. "Put another way, where did _you_ personally come from?"

"My parents had me?"... "If your parents had a second child, where would she come from?"

"What is the point of this?" Sakura snapped abruptly, surprising everyone present except, perhaps, Rin. "Magi have children like everyone else."

"No, wait, I think that's her point," Shirou spoke up while trying to sooth her, and keeping the topic in mind. "If I had to guess, you're thinking; if Tohsaka's parents had a second child, then 'the Tohsaka family' would have more circuits in total. Accounting, but with magical energy, though you're thinking on the scale of 'a civilization' rather than just 'a family'."

"But a magic crest can only be passed down to one descendant," Rin interrupted Sasaku, who was about to respond.

"Perhaps, of the two things those transfer, spells don't count as each individual needs Understanding, even if they can avoid the Authority constraint. And the second child could still make a new crest and pass it down to keep the circuit alive. So the next generation of say four children now has combined the circuits of four of them and the ones passed down from the previous two of you."

"My god," Shirou realized. "What you mean is that if you go on, you would have eight, with the inheritance of the first six. And then sixteen with inherited circuits from fourteen."

"Ha ha ha," his Servant laughed, though it oddly seemed dangerous rather than merry. "You had an advantage in figuring that out though, didn't you? Admittedly, I do intend to research immortality if not some version of Uplifting, but I make no guarantees."

"How can that- you're talking about multiple generations worth for that?" Rin appeared to be losing her cool.

"Too small," Sasaku agreed. "It would only be a side-benefit of constructing a whole civilization. Well there's many possible paths and a lot of research to do."

* * *

(After some discussion about Understanding, which is exactly what it sounds like on the tin)

"If our Mysteries don't exist in your homeland, how can you use them here?" Rin asked. "You literally performed a Heroic Spirit summoning. Where did you obtain the Understanding you need for that?"

"That's the thing, isn't it?" Sasaku grinned mischievously. "It's possible to learn. By the way, your gem magecraft is interesting, though we do have methods for storing energy, which over here works for magical energy."

Sasaku pulled out something the size of a thick coin. It looked like a single red petal suspended in a clear disc. As she held it out to Rin, the item began to slow slightly. "Two pieces of homework for you, with a reward. First, figure out how to drain my magical energy from this 'crystal capacitor' and fill it with your own. Second, figure out how to make one."

"What's the reward?" Rin asked after Sasaku made it clear she had finished speaking.

"You'll be able to make as many as you want, and not rely on hunting for gems?" Sasaku seemed to find this amusing for some reason. "I suppose it should be mentioned that if you can create one, it will probably have very high compatibility with you as well."

"But as for summoning Saber, the man who summoned me _had_ done his homework. A+, it satisfied my Understanding very satisfactorily." She handed it to Sakura, who flipped it open and noted immediately a familiar magic circle drawn within.

"By the way, you never told us about your first Master," Shirou pointed out.

"That bastard? I killed him."

* * *

l

* * *

 **Notes:**  
Magical energy/mana/od explanation ahoy.

If you're wondering about what tipped Shirou off, the reference is to when Sasaku asked him if he would like to be the father of an entire civilization. That and the fact her skill is named **((Realm Creation))** rather than the standard **((Territory Creation))**.

Don't take Sasaku's plan too seriously. As she herself said, it was only one possibility (actually that's the reason she didn't want to go into details) as she needs more information to even guess if it is doable. If you noticed it was less of 'teaching' and more of a 'discussion in disguise', you're right. Sasaku tends towards the dialogue genre.

Sasaku has all kinds of mundane stuff in her Armory. Basically think of pack-ratting it up over a thousand years and actually being able to access it. But she doesn't have stuff like Mystic Codes let alone Noble Phantasms, as they don't exist in her home civilization. For that matter, the World also removed from her collection things like strategic or future weaponry.


	43. Demon of Justice

**Demon of Justice**

* * *

(Sakura, continuing from previous chapter. About 4pm by now)

"Wait, WHAT?" Shirou jumped to his feet in surprise. "You didn't think this was worth mentioning?"

"I just did," his Servant replied calmly. "He was quite literally a mass-murdering bastard in the first place, so I'd say it was quite justified. Full disclosure, I would be required to unless some exemption applied."

"So, he was running experiments or something?" Rin asked with a bit of confusion. "That seems odd for a Master who would have traveled here for the War."

"He was breaking down people for the magical energy inside them like it was a factory line," Sasaku said by way of explanation. "It had been set up some time in advance; his idea was to gain an advantage resource-wise. As a result, when I pointed out that it made the energy unusable by me, he did not take it well."

She lifted the sleeve on her left arm to show the red marks of two Command Seals, which looked like a sword and flower. "I couldn't use these before, but they're a potential reserve energy source. Another reason to summon Saber, as I should have the status of both a Servant and Master now."

"Only two." Sakura commented.

"He used one for, what was it, 'hold still so I can fuck you,' which I had warned him against doing, but," Sasaku shrugged. "He very squarely tripped a particular condition which, long story short, caused me to... let's say go berserk and kill him."

"Well damn," Shirou muttered. "He wasn't by any chance targeting girls, was he? There was a spate of missing people; not Fuyuki specifically, but they made national news."

"Yes, he was," she replied. "From what I gathered their od was a good match for his use. Unfortunately what I found from his notes was not very enlightening, though combined with the Tohsaka library's information on Formalcraft, it might be possible to produce something I can actually use, without needing a specific Skill like say Rider's. Or Kuro's."

"So when I met you, you had just killed him?" Shirou still seemed a little put off by the idea. "What happened to any girls he hadn't killed yet, the police are still searching for them."

"I threw Atrum, I think his name was, into one of his machines after confiscating his command spells and that left no corpse behind. I met you a couple of days afterwards," she recounted for him. "Let's see, I couldn't finely manipulate the girls' cognitive states, but then again he had been drugging them, so I simply gave them cash he had around and sent them directly to random hotels around to sleep it off for a day or so then go to the police. Oh, I cleared and cleaned up his workshop as well."

"That was quite diligent of you," Rin grumbled, doubtless remembering how her home had been 'cleared' by Sasaku just the previous evening. "Can I take it, then, that there's no need to worry that magecraft will be exposed if the police do search the place?

"Not unless they can do better than a Servant with full information about everything in the area," Sasaku said. "Ah, I couldn't use any of his stored magical energy, human sacrifices and all, so I broke everything down and let it dissipate into the air as mana."

"Well anyway, though I think magi in this age don't necessarily take issue per se with what Atrum was doing," she raised an eyebrow as though this was particularly absurd, "You now know not to do this. This is basically how you'll have to learn about the structure of an entire civilization, unfortunately. I never taught children, and in any case, a lot of information is lost, so I have to relearn it myself."

"You really like referring to us as children, huh?" Shirou frowned. _It's not as though she incorrect though, as we're years behind a magus like Rin,_ Sakura thought to herself.

Caster blinked in surprise before answering. "You don't understand; I'm expressing an _obligation_ to you, my juniors. Parents give to their children, not take. You teach children not because they're ignorant, but because they are able to learn and not be after it." Sakura made a sound of disagreement, though she understood the point in abstract, if not in experience.

"I'm much closer to your level than a magus might think," Sasaku glanced at Rin who returned the gesture quizzically. "I'm not referring to magecraft, that's just another item in the toolbox. Original-Me would qualify as superintelligent, but I've essentially fallen all the way back to before being Uplifted. It would be maddening for someone for whom the exercise of intelligence is one of the purer delights of being alive."

"Would be?" Rin muttered. "It isn't though?"

"Your computer isn't likely to have a mental breakdown if you remove some of its RAM. Anyway I have bigger things to worry worry about, and besides reclaiming that is pretty high on the priority list. Let's see;" she noticed Shirou's skeptical look but ignored it. "It's good you're relatively young, so there's say thirty years to research some workable form of life extension, hopefully one that scales into a pathway for lesser immortality."

"Then I have to research Uplifting which will be amazingly hard and probably involve bootstrapping myself upwards to superintelligence, if it's even possible, but at least after that Uplifting other people is basically trivial in comparison and allows exponential growth as well. Well humans in this age can already use magecraft, so you needn't have that added to you."

"Wait a moment," Sakura added with some concern. "Magi have experimented with extending lifespans, but the soul seems to degrade after a century or so."

"For you, sure," Caster shrugged with indifference. "That means that they didn't fully realize life extension, like curing smallpox but dying of cancer. It's also the case that, if it's that difficult, you're really playing the game of buying time to first up your intelligence level to allow solving the full problem."

"Have you actually successfully done this before?" Shirou asked.

Sasaku shook her head. "There's only two people who can Uplift in my entire civilization, because they've kept a monopoly on it and there's been no research. There aren't any new people at the human level, and there's no need to Uplift our children as they are born like us. I don't expect to be shot for researching it though, obviously, otherwise I'd have no desire to do so in the first place."

"But you seemed quite worried about being brought back," Sakura commented, remembering what Rider had said on the subject.

"Not being brought back, but having a non-conscious copy around which the World can dissect for information. Those are different, and it would be negligent of me to not take steps to mitigate the possibility of the latter."

"I'd have thought you'd take any chance to stay alive," Shirou said.

"Think about it, if you decided to allow copying yourself to carry out suicide missions, you still must be willing to do them, otherwise the copies wouldn't either. In a sense, I can accept collateral damage because I am willing to -be- collateral damage; otherwise would be highly hypocritical."

Sakura thought a bit about that last bit. Caster's explanations and plans seemed consistent, but _Shirou wouldn't be so cautious without cause_. Furthermore, there was that one thing from the morning, which... she caught Sasaku's gaze and returned it, but saw nothing extraordinary this time either.

"Are you actually some sort of evil goddess?" she said half to herself. _It seems like one of those too-good-to-be-true stories._ Thoughts about the Count's help came back, unbidden. _But I was able to deal with him..._

* * *

"Define evil," the tempter replied. "Your actual gods and goddesses would be shot in my civilization for what they did."

"They aren't around anymore," Rin spoke up.

"Indeed," the hanging judge agreed. "And **I** am."

There followed a brief silence.

"Well, it's not like I ask or want anyone to worship me though," Sasaku added after a while. "That would get _me_ shot for sure."

Sakura looked at Sasaku's eyes again. "You do look the part though," she said deliberately.

"What?" Sasaku turned her head to face her, then towards Shirou. "Did you... no I can tell you didn't know." Her piercing gaze returned to Sakura who at this point had instinctively scooted behind Shirou.

"How was that possible," the Servant muttered to herself. "No wait..."she raised a hand to her neck _where I, no the Count-using-my-body grabbed her_ and frowned in thought.

Shirou gaped as a knife constructed of some green material appeared in his Sasaku's hand, obviously withdrawn from her Armory. He quickly raised his hand which bore the Command Seals.

Sasaku just raised an eyebrow at him before thrusting the blade into her own neck.

* * *

l

* * *

(Flashback: A Servant-dream Sakura had earlier that evening...)

(?, a Spartan officer in the First Grand Banner Army of the Lacedonian Alliance, in North Italy)

"Hmm," said the young Seer spotting me exiting my tent. "I see, I see."

"Good morning," I said, turning away in the direction of my unit. "Were you signed up for land in North or South Italy?" she asked abruptly, but without any hurry.

"That is only settled on retirement or demobilization," I replied quickly, getting an irritating sense that she wasn't asking from not knowing the procedure.

"Usually." She agreed. "Our Lady instructed my mother the Seer who instructed me to say to you; 'The land which you fed with the blood of that one, it will repay you with harvest.' Go and tell your unit, so that they know their position is secure."

"Why?" There was no need to go over details which she obviously knew.

"Because afterwards Our Lady said, 'One who questions, but obeys, has shown his character in a way one who has not yet reached the point of questioning has not.' Thus she decided to make her pleasure known clearly."

"A moment. Was she really not angry, just on account of your father's words?"

"General Agesipolis spoke correctly, that you fulfilled the command 'surely' as you were ordered. He is overly careful, in the manner of one used to the ways of the old gods; you were never in danger of Our Lady's anger."

"I thank you for delivering the message in full." I had no doubt that the reason she had been sent instead of a messenger was for the explanation I had just received. "I only did as I was told."

"Can I ask; why are you Seers if this many leaders have also seen Our Lady?"

She smiled with the knowing air of one who had asked a similar question herself before. "First, she shows herself to you, we simply see her. Second, it isn't about seeing her form."

* * *

It was only several years later (between campaigns) after I eventually married her, that I had the courage to ask about that again. Because, in the later times that I encountered Our Lady, I had not seen the thing that frightened me so much when she examined me during the first one.

"Is it because her eyes glow like coals breathed upon?"

It was the morning after our wedding night. She looked at me with amazement and simply said, "Now I understand why my mother said to take my time with you."

* * *

l

* * *

(Shirou, present time)

The knife fell from Sasaku's hand, and hit the ground before disappearing.

"Don't," he warned Sakura who was about to rush over to the Servant. "That definitely won't kill her, anyway."

"Damnit," Sasaku laughed with a bit of an edge to it. "I can't believe you got this past me."

"Are you going to tell us what is going on?" Shirou demanded.

"Your wife subverted approximately... two to five percent of our Grail-mediated contractual link, maintained a siphon for between... three and six hours despite my internal error-correction Skill, and by her own words has successfully made off with a copy of some part of the information in my memories."

"What?" Rin asked.

Sasaku turned her head slightly to look straight over Shirou's shoulder into Sakura's eyes. "This morning. When I was examining your eyes at nii-san's request."

"Yes," she admitted quietly.

"But you didn't tell Shirou. Why?"

"After breakfast I was thinking it was only a brief trick of the light." Sasaku smiled as though knowing it was an evasion, but let it stand.

The various blood splattered around began to shimmer and disappear as Sasaku chuckled, her earlier good mood restored in full. "If you had summoned earlier, I might have been spared some trouble."

* * *

l

* * *

 **Notes:**  
Next (two) parts will probably be Bazette/Jeanne vs Kirei and co.

In case you look up superintelligence, Sasaku (and original-Her) is totally organic. Some types of magecraft do allow for tricks like parallel or sped-up thought etc (see: Atlas) but she doesn't know about them.


	44. Hero of Hate (Battle)

**Hero of Hate (Battle)**

* * *

(Sakura)

"In any case," Sasaku said, turning her attention back to Shirou, "Abstractions like humanity, good-evil and so on aside, you really only have to decide if you will put your faith in me. Or not. Or equivalently, if you think I am faithful to deliver on my freely-given promise."

"What is objectionable about my homeland? Speaking nothing of gods or magi, do the people around you give of their flesh and blood and spirit, saying 'eat, drink, partake,'? Or 'you, be a father to a nation, many nations' or 'I bring you our of the house of slavery and give you your own house, which you did not build"?"

"Hmph," Rin scoffed. "It's rather, what did you say, hypocritical, of you to say that last."

"Tohsaka." Caster said. "If you are so distraught, tell me clearly; would you rather die?"

Sakura was a bit taken aback by the detachment, given what Shirou had told her about the incident. "Wait a moment," Shirou broke in. "You're still my Servant, that's not for you to decide."

"I'm not so cruel as to force someone to live," she replied without missing a beat. "That's a hell and I have no authority and thus desire to deliver it."

"Magic crests of longer lineages force a type of geass on the bearer, they can't commit suicide," Rin explained to no one in particular. "That's ironic, or perhaps not given your low view of magi in general."

"There actually is a specific rule about servants for life, but since fate has already remanded you in Sakura's custody I will say no more." Sasaku sighed. "It's already 4:30, go get some rest as we will be moving on Kotomine's hideout at 6. Any last questions?"

"There's one major thing Rider brought up that you didn't mention," Sakura recalled from that morning. "Do you know anything about what happened about 4 am today?"

"What? What happened exactly? I wasn't asleep, of course, and didn't detect anything. And I doubt Rider could out-sense me within this Realm."

"It was further away, she said it was in the direction of Fuyuki Park."

"That's where the Grail manifested at the end of the last War!" Rin exclaimed. "Which resulted in the Fire..."

"Could Kotomine have made his move already? But no, fully half of the Servants are here, so that can't be the Grail." Sasaku frowned. "Still, that can't be a coincidence."

* * *

l

* * *

(Fuyuki Park, early Sunday morning, about 3:30 am)

(Cu Chulainn)

"Cu Chulainn, I challenge you to-"

The Lancer hardly heard his second Master's command of "kill her" as he rushed forward towards Bazette. -Perhaps I'm just a little weak to challenges- he chuckled to himself upon seeing several runes begin to light up in formation around the two of them as soon as he was close enough. He thrust Gae Bolg into the ground and raised his fists.

"... a fistfight to settle a matter of honor."

The terms of the duel having been fully declared, the spell took effect.

-I see that she paid attention when I was rambling about -((Ath nGabla))- though I'm not exactly sure it can be used like that.- He quickly dodged a quick jab from Bazette's remaining hand.

"Very well, let me show you the close quarter combat techniques of the Land of Shadows."

* * *

(Jeanne d'Arc)

"Berserker, kill her," the small girl _no, homuluncus_ next to Kotomine said with seeming disinterest in her red eyes. With that, the giant... -General of Rebellion, Lu Bu- charged in with unrestrainted killing intent.

-At least with my Magic Resistance, most of their magecrafts will be ineffective. Though, Kotomine would probably have researched some of the church's Sacraments specifically for this use case.-

Jeanne swung her furled banner to deflect Berserker's swipes as the two Servants clashed several times. Each time she gave a little ground in order to dissipate the momentum of Lu Bu's powerful lunges.

-This isn't good, Berserker must be greatly powered up if his Master is a specialist Einzbern homuluncus.- This suspicion was confirmed when she began reciting some sort of chant which seemed to boost Lu Bu's speed even more.

Jeanne managed to get a few glancing hits in with her speartip, but they did nothing against Berserker's armor which -are those runes? Cu Chulainn...- While on her end, the banner could absorb the punishment of being struck repeatedly by the God Force halberd, the same could not be said of herself.

She tried redirecting some of Lu Bu's more vertical strikes into the ground, but he immediately switched to thrusts. Still, this meant he had to commit to a linear motion, so... -there!-

Sensing the flow of his attack and moving around it, she struck true into a gap near his left arm pit.

But the point did not strike flesh, instead slamming into the interior portion of Lu Bu's back armor. Almost immediately he, removing left hand from his halberd, grabbed hold of the shaft of Jeanne's weapon.

With his control over both weapons, Berserker tried to drag Jeanne into the path of a one-handed horizontal swing, but she jumped upwards to clear it while using the sudden change in angle and both hands to twist and pull her banner free.

However, while she was still in midair, Lu Bu moved forward, which slammed his shoulder into her feet, sending her into a flip over his head. As she landed, Jeanne allowed herself to collapse into a crouch as a swing that would have decapitated her otherwise passed overhead.

Kicking off the ground, she backflipped as Berserker's halberd came around again, this time with a downward-angled arc, and then deflected another horizontal sweep coming in just as she landed from that. -Why is he back to swings, could it be that he's reverted to charging in? No-

Due to the power and weight distribution of Lu Bu's halberd, she had to parry with the portion of her weapon where the banner was. One of the attacking sweeps that hugged her weapon a little closer nearly caught the axe-blade on the bottom section of its spearhead. Or rather given the difference in their strength, it was Lu Bu who had almost hooked her weapon.

-If we're stuck in a stalemate, Bazette will eventually lose to Lancer, even with her preparations.- The longer she continued this 'fight' against Berserker, the worse things would get, not better.

She glanced over at the two Masters, wondering if she might be able to get over and neutralize at least one of them. From where he was oddly standing behind the smaller homunculus, Kotomine pulled out several of his Black Keys and there also appeared... _Is that the King of Heroes?_

Even if he didn't look as she'd expected, **((True Name Discernment))** was close to certain in identifying the third Servant. It was time to make a decision.

 **((Revelation))**. It didn't give her an answer she liked. But it was an answer, a chance at least.

Closing her eyes to the distractions of battle, she jumped backwards and away from Berserker to gain a little distance. Jeanne undid the bindings on both her banner and herself.

-I offer this body to you.-

* * *

(Jeanne d'Arc)

 _To awaken again to this wretched **((Ephemeral Dream))**_.

When she opened her eyes, Lu Bu had not attempted to close the distance, rather _he's switched to its bow form for a wide area attack._ Doubtless the sight of her black-and-white banner stirred an understandable hesitation, even in a Berserker.

She looked around, basking in the earlier oppressive energy of the place. It was perfect. _All evil has gathered here..._ She could feel chaos swirling around him as he prepared to unleash his **((God Force))**.

Practically ripping out her jet-black sword from its scabbard, she pointed it him as though aiming. Everything else was forgotten. "This is the howl of a soul filled with hatred!"

With a shout that she never head, Lu Bu released a blast of destructive force from his bow, aimed directly at her.

 **((La Grondement Du Haine))**!

The two waves of hate and chaos slammed into one another, and the latter was consumed by, no rather added to the first. However, before it impacted Berserker, a third wave pulsed outward.

The air was heavy with corruption spilled from the Grail ten years ago, and like a flammable cloud brought to spark, exploded as Jeanne's hate-fuelled flames passed through it. Converted in such a manner left a vacuum of sorts and the inferno sucked even more of the ambient hate in. Multiple layers of hate and fire rapidly crashing in upon one another.

The implosion was only the first phase. As all that pressure began rebounding outwards like a star going nova, Jeanne realized just how complete of an answer **((Revelation))** had given to her earlier self.

 _Damn saint._

* * *

l

* * *

 ** _Notes:_**

I guess that area has exploded a second time now.

Seeing the Noble Phantasm animation in 3D (the FGO arcade game) is really cool! You can see La Pucelle in the Extella games, though the Apocrypha version looks cooler.


	45. Hero of the Fist (Battle, pt 2)

**Hero of the Fist (Battle)**

* * *

(Bazette)

Truth be told, being caught by two Servants was already a bad situation, but the second being Berserker was even worse. She had initially planned to draw a Master _ideally Kotomine_ into the rune-enforced duel, but all that went out the window.

Cu Chulainn's slight turning into a punch gave away his left hook, which ran into her right "hand" like it was a wall. His brief look of surprise was cut off when her own attack from the left glanced off his face.

"This isn't two fists to one," she commented by way of distraction while recovering backwards. _Not used to being left-handed._ Her right arm whipped out, knocking aside a quick jab.

 _Perhaps I should stick to my usual style,_ Bazette thought. Yes, she lacked roughly a fist's worth of range, but the jury-rigged metal "replacement" on her wrist was much more durable than her remaining hand. And while Cu Chulainn had an impressive physique, ramming a rune-reinforced and rune-empowered bit of metal into that was likely to leave some impression on it.

"Hmph." Lancer closed again with a direct haymaker from his right, but she sidestepped and deflected rather than take it head on. _Seems he thinks alike._

Another person might have congratulated herself on being one of few humans who could stand up to a Servant, but Bazette knew it was likely that once he had fully gotten into the right mindset the fight was only likely to become harder.

 _Damn, but he is fast._ Lancer put his high Agility to immediate use, darting ahead to one side, then the next. Clearly trying to get on her side where he would only face one arm at a time. However, by quickly moving in the opposite direction, Bazette made it so that he had to fight his own acceleration each time to change direction. It was, however, a high-speed game as any contact would take place at an even higher relative speed.

Still, not only did she have to turn in a smaller circle than Cu Chulainn, but each time he overshot it wasted a little more of his energy. There were two options, either try to drag things out on the defensive, risking the possibility of her opponent fully engaging into the fight, or try to deal some damage to him, keeping him from attaining that balance.

 _I don't have many good defensive tricks, but I do have some offensive ones. And my runes are weakening as the fight continues._ Thankfully sight enhancement wasn't immediately necessary to keep up with Lancer, but **there!**

Rather than step back from a particularly wide swing, Bazette instead stepped in, curving her good arm around and turning while crouching to maintain stability. Cu Chulainn's momentum flung him around like in a dance, except that at the end of it he slammed into the ground. She immediately considered stomping on him, but he instinctively allowed himself to roll away from her in time, sweeping his legs low across the ground to keep her away before backflipping himself off the ground back onto his feet.

Regardless of the precaution, having to move both up and backwards slowed him down enough that Bazette was able to charge him, turning while doing so in order to ram her left shoulder into his chest right before he was able to defend himself, causing Lancer to continue his flip, into the ground.

Aiming for center mass to avoid missing due to the change in her balance, Bazette brought her right arm down, ready to activate the **Eihwaz** rune on the metal end to...

Cu Chulainn grabbed her elbow, and her attack stopped short due to simple lack of range. _Damnit._ Her rolling with the attack caused her to slide off him and some ways along the ground, preventing any further attack or counter-attack for the moment. Both sides quickly got to their feet and prepared to re-engage.

Bazette quickly stepped into the attack, but her opponent was not flat-footed this time and quickly fended off a blazing triple attack. On the last one, he caught hold of the sleeve of her suit and attempted to throw her. As her feet were leaving the ground, Bazette grabbed at one of his armored shoulders, dragging him along for the ride.

* * *

(Cu Chulainn)

The suit tore and while Cu Chulainn stumbled a few steps, his manouver worked. However, he was not able to capitalize on it while recovering.

 _She's definitely picked up a lot from our earlier sparring._ As he looked over her defensive form, he noticed something about the long tear down her left arm. It revealed some sort of white inner lining that had curiously enough not been damaged. _But that means it is sturdier than the rune-reinforced cloth above it?_

Bazette seemed unfazed as she moved forward on the attack again. _I'll switch to throws._ Even if it had strength equivalent to armor, armor couldn't protect the internal organs from trauma.

The two's attacks collided. Bazette seemed to be betting that her metal prosthetic could defeat his fist, but in the next tempo he made an attempt directly on her arm. Cu Chulainn lowered his stance before moving forward to attack. She tried to dance around him but he tripped her instead.

As she was about to go flying, he grabbed her foot and swung, sending her an impressive distance upward and away before landing with both a crunch and a ripping sound. _But she just got up again?_

Bazette caught him looking questioningly at the white liner of her suit that was revealed when the previously-torn left arm had come off upon hitting the ground at speed. Almost copying him, she tried attacking from a low position but he practically jumped over her.

What he saw from the damaged back of her suit gave him a critical clue. A rather large rectangular piece of cloth was draped over her back and shoulders and went around to cover her whole chest area. _It's Jeanne's banner._

The upper part of her arms were protected by the borrowed Noble Phantasm but not the lower portions. _Or the legs. Or head._

Cu Chulainn cracked his knuckles. She had clearly prepared extensively, and while it was not really a great victory for a Servant to defeat a human, it had been a satisfying fight. _But now it's ov-_ He heard the sound of something, _a banner_ flapping in the wind to the side. "What?"

He turned to see Assassin holding aloft a **second** banner, in black and white. Lancer blinked, watching her shout something in slow motion, as unpleasant memories of nearly being impaled in their previous fight came back all of a sudden.

* * *

(Bazette)

As she rammed into a stunned Cu Chulainn, the world exploded. He went flying towards a swiftly expanding sphere of destruction.

"You win!" she shouted after him, hoping that ending the duel in some way would allow him to be harmed by it. Honestly speaking, the non-interference effect wouldn't have held against something like that anyway. It was really only a question of if he could survive or not, since she clearly couldn'-

 _Wait._

Quickly curling up, she tried to stretch get the banner out to face the approaching flames, having enough presence of mind to hold it so her fingers wouldn't be extending outside of its _potential_ defense. With only one hand though, perfect coverage was not likely, especially given that the flames would go around anyway.

 _There's no way Jeanne can survive being in the middle of that, though._ The most she could hope for was that Lancer, Berserker, and their Masters would also perish. Though that first had **((Battle Continuation))**.

* * *

(Cu Chulainn)

His spear flashed into his hand like instinct. _One throw._

Within the hazy inferno rapidly closing in on him, or him on it, he could see two vague blobs. Most likely Assassin and Berserker. While he couldn't tell who was which, at least there was no worry about missing whoever he did target.

His spear's potential victims wavered, dancing around one another, the images practically merging together. _The crazy mana density here must be screwing with me._ Without worrying about it, he flipped a coin, as it were, and let fly.

 **((Gae Bolg))**!

A mere moment after the resulting red streak dove into the flames, he ended up in them as well.

* * *

l

* * *

 **Notes:**  
Kirei probably didn't want to attack Jeanne because being closer to Lu Bu than absolutely necessary seems like a bad idea.


	46. Let Us Begin to Build

**Let Us Begin to Build**

* * *

(Sunday evening, about 5pm)

(Shirou)

 _It's pointless to tell someone, 'go take a nap for ninety minutes before a pitched battle'_ I was grumbling to myself when Sakura got to her feet. _I was thinking it was about time._

We had basically just lain down in whatever we had on, but that wasn't the reason why Sakura was brooding by herself. While it didn't seem likely to have been pre-meditated, Caster's very sudden switch in interest to her was still quite a change from what I at least was fairly certain was caution if not fear.

Sakura turned and was not surprised at all to see me looking back at her. Since she **had** gotten up, it was obvious not only that she had made a decision, but what it was. "Rider is asking for me," she said in a low tone, almost apologetically. Of course b _oth of us know Rider was unlikely to be the origin of that request._

"Is she by herself?" I ask in a deliberately neutral tone.

"No."

We were planned to leave in an hour. Sakura seemed fixed in place when she saw me frowning in thought.

"Haven't you already made up your mind?" I pointed out simply. It hadn't even been a day since I found out she was even in the War, but possibly due to her special magecraft she had a better 'handle' on what my Servant was up to.

She paused to straighten her clothes unnecessarily (the relatively soft fabric didn't seem to even wrinkle). "Evidently not," she stated the obvious. "Shirou, that girl is terrified of something. The reason she's behaving in such an odd manner is..."

"She thinks she's going to die, even though she's arranged literally everyone else standing in front of her?" I ask with perhaps a bit of acid. "What, she can save other Servants from dying, but not herself?" I honestly wondered why the others seemed to think it was a legitimate possibility, given that she had admitted it wasn't even certain she could mess with the Grail system to accomplish such a thing.

"Not that," Sakura surprised me by saying rather forcefully for her. "Remember what she said to Rin? That wasn't really about Rin, but herself. I mean... she didn't say 'that's hell' but 'a hell' like there's several literal types which she's aware of."

"But hell doesn't exist, according to the Grail's information at least. The _Holy_ Grail." I point out.

"The Grail _-that-runs-murderfests_. I wouldn't say that 'souls return to the Root' means you can't be trapped in some form... be it as a whole person or a soul." That with finality. We just let it hang for a moment. I wondered if perhaps Sasaku might be waiting on the other side of the line with Rider wondering about us.

"What do you know about the gods?" Sakura prompted me, bringing to mind her question to Caster about that which caused the latter's demeanor to snap about earlier.

"Only what she said in front of us: they used to be around, but not anymore."

"Hmm, about that; Medusa's sisters Stheno and Eurayle were True Goddesses, who were born perfect ideal idol-type divinities who never changed. Until she turned into the monster who devoured them."

"The Gorgon sisters right? Didn't one of the other gods mess up Medusa to cause that?"

"She never explicitly said either way, but the point was - even as a monster, Medusa was still more 'human' than the other two. True Gods cannot be summoned, for example. Maybe I can trust her because of that, but not her sisters. Though to be honest, humans can go insane, and it would've been a disaster if her mind had been transformed to match her current body."

"Sasaku can't go insane though, error correction." I pointed out. "And I'm not worried about her simply going berserk."

"... Shirou, do you happen to have some other source of power I don't know about?"

I blink, caught off-guard. "What?"

"You should have learned, from this War at least; without strength one can only... endure the terms dictated by those with it."

I'm struck by a sudden sense of realization. "... this isn't about me, is it?" Reaching out a finger to her face, I catch a tear falling from her... her...

 _Hasn't it gotten worse?_ I never really thought much about her eye color, besides that it was enchantingly rare, until this morning when it had obviously changed in an unnatural manner. But now, it was like looking into a deep well - **and seeing something massive stirring**.

"Ah." She turned away in embarrassment for a moment before returning. "Caster's trick didn't hold, did it?"

"No." Simply.

"It's probably a mark of the Matou magecraft, I guess." She said this as though it wasn't a great revelation. Which I suppose it wasn't since "she" had used it on Sasaku in front of me.

Something clicked. By that magecraft, Rider had somehow gone "inside" Sakura. If that could be used as an attack... _So thats why she was more afraid of Sakura than Medusa._

"That's your 'source of power' then?" She thought about it for a while. "Not entirely, at the moment, but yes. But I had to accept help. Even though he had ulterior motives and planned well to betray me, he didn't count on Rider. She's may be an anti-hero, but she's my hero."

I understand her point now. Maybe she does like Sasaku, but even if she secretly distrusts Caster, Sakura still has strength to deal with her. For some reason Sasaku never directly pointed out that I lacked strength apart from her. Well, there's Sakura and Rider, and Saber too, but she didn't try pushing that line even before they came into the picture. _I'm not sure what that signifies, though.  
_

"Are they complaining about me keeping you?" I asked, returning to the main topic at hand.

"Rider is, though Caster seems to have been expecting it," she replied after a while with one of her signature little smiles.

* * *

l

* * *

(Sakura)

When we entered Caster's room, the small Servant looking positively tiny beside Rider's majestic white-and-gold form, she only smiled with a hint of amusement as though guessing my thoughts.

"You know," she said to Rider, though the comment was obviously addressed to me, "it is written 'test me... if I will not open for you the windows of heaven' so do not hinder them as that heaven belongs to such."

"I can definitely believe you're a Caster," Rider grumbled, but acceptingly. A couple of chairs, which I recognize as belonging to the dining table, appear in front of us.

I confidently take one. "Sasaku, I'd like your word on one thing."

"Ask."

"Promise me you won't destroy humanity, or take it over, or... well you know what I mean clearly enough."

Caster blinked in surprise, neither accepting or declining. "Don't you trust Ayala's Counter Force to prevent either of those?" _So she's going with **that**._

It was time to test if I've read her correctly. Though I did have the advantage of her conversations with Rider, she probably was perfectly aware of that. "By saying that, you're suggesting it's possible to bypass if not defeat it."

"Hm. Well I'm given to understand it's like an instinct and those can be gamed. What do you want to claim for them, the Earth? Gaia already has its own competing claim on it. Add in the Moon too, there's some scary stuff there apparently."

I refuse to be taken in by this second evasion either. "First, you still haven't granted or turned down my request. Second, what's the catch in that offer?"

"If you're _actually_ genuinely concerned for their continuing existence, I will grant it provided you understand it isn't pacifism you've asked for, and secondly, well," this seemed to tickle her sense of humor, "humanity isn't using most of the energy from the sun, or its mass. And none of the other stars around. You might not be surprised to know you can't cram a trillion people on a planet, at least we didn't."

"Why would you explain _that_?" Shirou asked sharply, not sounding as though he expected an answer. "Sakura, why did you ask that?" he continued.

Caster waved a hand as though to let me go first.

"Your Servant strikes me as rather cynical, but for some reason about herself and her home as well. Though lyou told me she spoke about the end of humanity in her world, she just demonstrated it wasn't, in itself, a goal. But Sasaku's second answer told us what that goal was-"

"To build," she finished for me. "But you're wrong, I didn't destroy humanity, my master did, but I was definitely cheerleading since we were told not to do any more than that. Don't misunderstand, I fall into one of the more extreme camps on the Council and it's _despite_ me that rebels are still hanging around in the dark regions."

"You know that I don't understand any of that, right?"

"Our civilization, well the main body of it, is built around our founder who isn't a person in the usual sense. Essentially, take your own galaxy, except he's the one in the center everything orbits. His greatness is so incandescent it would absolutely destroy even us if we got close enough, like if you fell into the sun. Because rebels obviously try to get far away from us, and him, they're described as being in the 'dark regions' though they are also living around suns, or inside ships anyway."

"Spaceships, I assume," Shirou added. Nodding, she turned to answer the unspoken question.

"They had a few city-ships, basically a mobile city-state-sized civilization. They range from the size of Fuyuki to... Tokyo plus towns, I suppose. But that's chump change to us, we have larger ones, fleets of continent-sized city-ships that are colonizing other stars. In space you don't really slow down much so the rebels are cruising off into the void, unchased, at like one percent of lightspeed."

"We're getting off track," Rider said in a disgruntled tone. _That we were._

"Just one more thing," I say apologetically, though to hide that this was really the biggest one to have answered. "Why us? You could clearly have found better people."

"Clearly?" Sasaku replied quizzically. "It doesn't seem that way to me at all." She seemed about to leave it at that before adding, "If you mean the magecraft thing, it's easier to build something new with a clean slate. But it's also the case that I have a penchant for building with the least ones - it doesn't mean staying small forever.

She thought for a moment. "It's not just good luck that I happened to be one of the most access-enabled and knowledge-greedy people in a, what, trillion-strong civilization, who also researched civilization-building, uplifting and whatnot. It's _specifically_ why it was me."

"You remember that much, do you?" Shirou commented, probably remembering how his earliest impressions of his Servant were of a rather lost and confused girl. _Assuming that wasn't an act, though if so getting attacked by Kuro was a terrible lapse._

Sasaku only grinned at this jab, though. "Error correction. Not many of us have it, but original-me seems to have also abused it to allow the World to mangle my memory but without being able to prevent me from recovering without having to turn me into a vegetable. It may also have double-purpose as a fail-safe," she admitted. "In that if that _wasn't_ possible, I'd be a vegetable rather than turn into a rebel. Eh, well that's what I would have done, so I'm not complaining, obviously."

 _We could sit around interminably discussing random topics which she seems to have at her fingertips, but..._

Shrou spoke up before I could break the brief silence. "Can you actually do crest transfer so easily?" he put to her directly. _Well there are probably... ways..._ I try not to let my mind dwell on that, though.

"Normally, no," Caster replied easily. "Provided Sakura can indeed absorb it, it's more like grafting in bits of yourself back into yourself. The actual surgery and recovery are basically trivial for me."

"..."

* * *

"Let's do it then" I said finally.

Sasaku didn't move, but looked sideways at Shirou. "No objections?" she asked aloud after a moment of this.

"No."

And that was that.

"Right," Caster said, suddenly all business. She thought for a bit as a scalpel, or something like it, appeared in her fingers. "Well, 'conveniently' there's still a marker..." she muttered, tapping the blade against the side of her neck. _Isn't that place where the Count grabbed her by?_

Her eyes fluttered, unfocused, in concentration, before she abruptly placed something about the length of a finger but half the thickness on a summoned plate. She held it out towards me with a satisfied smile.

"This reminds me of a particular ritual," she said abruptly. "Hmm, yes, this is a seminal moment, so lets..."

Placing the plate with its gristly burden on her lap, Caster raised her now-freed hands. For a moment as she shifted her gaze upwards, _flame, just like this morning._

"( **Let us begin to build),** " she intoned with an air of gravity that shook the air, no the entire space we were in. It was as if, no it was the words rippling outwards through the entire Field covering the house.

"I thought you used 'This is a day of judgment'," Shirou commented after the moment had passed.

"Write it down, that's for attacks, this is for other things," she said idly while picking up and handing me the plate. Medusa eyed me supportively as I examined the rather disconcertingly worm-shaped bit of Servant-flesh. She reached out and took my hand. "Let me help."

I nodded, holding out my other hand, palm open facing down towards my 'present'. At first, nothing much, but there was a small sense of familiarity there, which I focused on, reaching out but not physically, trying to _connect_.

I barely heard Shirou swallow nervously as what seemed like several fine, black, threads extended downwards and made the desired contact. Sinking in with no resistance whatsoever...

As though it was a skewered piece of meat, the filaments dragged the slowly-darkening spiritron-flesh upwards until my fingers could easily close in around it.

"I suppose that's it," Sasaku said a little sadly but with a tinge of pride. "I can't connect with it anymore." Turning my hand over, I looked at what I had gained. The discoloration had not faded, rather concentrated itself into veins that looked like shadows at first glance.

"Alright," Caster switched to a cheerful tone. "Sakura, over here for a sec." I turned towards her just in time to spot her finger as it flicked against my forehead.

"...!"

I yelped and practically jumped backwards in my chair as the whole room flipped around and my back connected with... Rider's chest? _But she was **in front** of me!_

For that matter, Shirou had suddenly teleported to the side. _No wait, that's the same chair, I'm lying on the bed looking at him._ Blinking in confusion, I glared at his Servant as she exhaled in relief, or perhaps exhaustion.

"Surgery's over," Rider said by way of explanation after she was sure I wasn't about to flail around. "It was six 'just now' and you were out about half an hour. How do you feel?"

I glanced at my left arm, seeing nothing. Feeling nothing had changed. "Nothing," I reported.

You seem to know exactly where it went though," Shirou pointed out, watching me make a fist and then experimentally flex the limb. Didn't feel like anything had been done. "I suppose that means it worked perfectly," Sasaku said.

"Wait, was that it?" I asked in disbelief.

"It was half an hour," she pointed out. "I would imagine your spell would allow you easy use of it, but then again physical circuits are only half the equation, and your soul needs to make a connection perhaps."

"Should we still go on the attack?" Rider broke in.

* * *

l

* * *

Notes:  
Next time: the attack happens.


	47. Dusk of Judgement (Battle)

**Dusk of Judgment (Battle)**

* * *

(Rin)

"Phew." I was quite thankful for a breather after a good fifteen minutes or so of sword drill. Although using a shinai or standard metal weapon wouldn't be too bad with Reinforcement magecraft, Kojirou's weapon was was ridiculous even among two-handed swords. _And he frequently uses it with a single hand too...-_ By the way, Kuro was off to the side slashing away at the air with her twin shortswords.

"I must ask, though, why are these also just cutting around _myself_?" I asked my new sword instructor curiously. After all, every one of **((Tsubame Gaeshi))** 's three slashes are moving away from him.

He snorted, whatever he had been thinking a moment earlier interrupted by the question. "Because you don't have the stamina for any prolonged work. But more importantly, because that will slice off your arm or leg quite trivially. Especially because even I have to use very high stances sometimesand you're much shorter."

"Hmm, I suppose so," I answered with a bit of doubt remaining. Granted, he personally hadn't any experience teaching, and if it _only_ took a decade or to to learn the technique I'd consider myself fortunate. The swordsman raised an eyebrow as though having read my mind. "It's entirely possible things like this might only be possible if you're dedicated to the point of insanity. Especially since this is how I somehow tricked my way into becoming part of a Heroic Spirit."

"That sounds like something Caster would say," I shot back, having had similar thoughts going through my mind. Awkwardly so, since I only wanted to use it as a steppingstone but it took a talented swordsman his whole life (and death) to attain. Unfortunately, unlike new spells there was no real way to pass it on if I only partially mastered it before dying.

"It **is** what she said," he muttered dryly. "Taking things to extremes is practically her life philosophy, if you hadn't noticed by now."

"Can Kuro really learn that by just trying to cut faster?" I lowered my voice, though it was probably pointless given a Servant's hearing, let alone an Archer's. "It might be. After all, she is _actually_ young and children are well-known for being able to learning things, if they want to. And she's already starting off with a Heroic Spirit-level of swordsmanship."

I glanced at the weapon on the ground next to me. Full-length, razor-sharp, and scabbardless because Kuro apparently couldn't copy non-weapons with any efficiency, it, like the copy Kojirou had, could probably cut even a Servant _if I could actually hit them_. Speaking of copies...

"Do you have any idea how you became Sasaki Kojirou?" I inquired. "It implies that the Throne has a version of the original you, even if he isn't a Heroic Spirit on his own. If you don't mind me saying so."

"You're asking me?" he replied with some surprise. "Archer seems to think she wasn't even a person until you summoned her, which is even odder. 'Kuro' is not the name of any Heroic Spirit and she's using a combination of Noble Phantasms which, again, matches no Heroic Spirit."

"Well they are copies made by her (Projection) Skill," I shrugged before a flash of insight crossed my mind. "Is that **her** plan to give immortality?"

He laughed, immediately catching on. "Not as she's explained it. The problem is trying to summon the exact same person, even if they got on the Throne. There's probably many other mes."

Sakura and Shirou appeared about a stone-throws away from the house, eyeing the weapon that was clearly being used by me with some surprise by the one and clear thoughts by the other.

"Er..." I started, before Sakura abruptly turned around and dashed back inside. Shirou spun around and stared after her before suddenly following suit. _That can't be good._ The hairs on the back of my neck rose.

-Kuro, go after them.- I got to my feet as well.

* * *

l

* * *

(Sakura)

The first sign that something had gone wrong was that Medusa's magical energy level began rising rather sharply above what _she told me_ was her maximum. The problem was, of course, **where** the energy was coming from.

Various exclamations of surprise from behind me passed my notice as I sped back along the corridor, the locked door to Caster's room creaking in protest as I practically ripped it open. My eyes immediately fell upon Rider holding a lifeless Sasaku. We eyed one another in speechless astonishment for a moment.

"What have you done?" I breathed out bitterly. "I still needed her!"

"Wait, I-"

Shirou broke into the moment by tapping me on the shoulder as Kuro appeared next to him. "Relax, she's just knocked out. Again," he added with a touch of irony while moving over and slapping his Servant several times. "Get up. Ah, no good."

"Do we need to do something?" Kuro asked with uncharacteristic worry. "We can't," Shirou shrugged, directing Rider to lay Caster on his bed. "We basically have to wait until her, uh, non-conscious error-correction purges the effect. Which I assume is petrification of some sort," he glanced at Medusa, who was wearing Gilgamesh's glasses.

"No," I commented looking at the marks on Sasaku's neck, exactly where she had been bitten the last time. I had a good idea what had happened. "Rider probably has a very strong 'advantage' when biting goddesses in that form." The mentioned Servant shifted uncomfortably at the thought of the part of her legend that led to that. "Explain to me why you thought it was a good idea to lie to me about how low you actually were."

"It wasn't a major issue, I've been rationing energy use from the very beginning," she answered promptly. The transfer was Caster's idea because she keeps Saber full all the way and anything left here wouldn't be of use if we're outside." I pondered just how much it had to have been, given that her energy levels had practically doubled. "There was no other way to feasibly move that much," Medusa continued, fanning Sasaku with one of wings. "She was... hoping to be able to have my **((Pandemonium Cetus))** as a backup, or perhaps a trump card."

"Wait a second," Rin said, making her presence known. By now Kojirou had also joined us. "The Demonic Legion Temple, you can use that?"

"Theoretically," Rider replied hesitantly. "At the very least I can't use the **((Blood Fort))** any longer, and that is the most likely replacement."

"Is that Noble Phantasm a problem?" I asked, noting Rin's reaction at hearing its name."

"Like the Blood Fort, it is indiscriminate, of course. But Gorgon wouldn't mind melting everyone around her, so my ability to control where it actually manifests isn't guaranteed."

"That's insane," Kuro muttered darkly. "And Sasaku wanted you to be able to whip that out for?"

"Gilgamesh."

Shriou set his jaw.

* * *

(Shirou)

It was obvious now why she wanted a similar formation to earlier despite the obvious problem of someone like the King of Heroes rushing her. I had initially thought her plan was to occupy him while we (hopefully) took down Kotomine, but as Rin had pointed out, Archers wouldn't drop for at least a few days afterwards due to the class' **((Independent Action))**.

The likely alternative before this revelation, finishing off the other three Servants and then all ganging up on Gilgamesh, was crude but a decent shot, all things considered."

"Did you know about this?" I asked the Saber next to me. He shook his head.

"I was trying to keep things under wraps to get around **((Sha Naqba Imuru))** ," Sasaku groaned. "And yes, I am seriously regretting suggesting Rider try that transfer - feels like I'm burning from the inside out."

"She has a point there," Kojirou said grudgingly before jabbing a finger at her. "I suppose the fact it's _stupidly risky_ for you would also cause him to not expect that."

"Sure," Caster replied in a strained voice. "Look, if he can only stay for a few days after Kotomine's death, he has no way to get the Grail if everyone just splits and out-waits him. But if he loses his temper and starts leveling Fuyuki, the Grail might explode like last time, and we'd all go down."

"Can he really do that?" Sakura asked. "The Grail won't appear, and the Grail System should be well shielded, warded and so on against even Servant-level attacks."

" **((Ea))**." Sasaku said calmly, causing Kuro's head to whip around at the name. "He has _that_? Did you actually see it?"

"I might have seen the very tip of it," she replied, thinking back to her last encounter with the other Archer. "It was when he was showing off a bunch of otherwise mundane swords, so it's likely he wants us to at least think he might use it."

"Realistically, how long can you occupy him?" I asked after a period of pure silence. "I know you don't want to go into details, but this one is critical."

"My best guess is something like five minutes," she sighed. "Seven if he feels like playing around."

We took a moment to consider this before Sasaku waved Kuro over. "Your turn."

* * *

l

* * *

(About an hour later, 7:30 pm)

(Kotomine Kirei)

"They're here," Gilgamesh announced suddenly into the quiet church. "Three Servants walking straight towards us."

"I suppose they have no intention of respecting the neutrality of this place." Archer just chuckled as his Master started taking out Black Keys. "Only three?"

"Caster is doubtless back somewhere far enough that I can't see her," he replied while Lu Bu got to his feet, hefting his halberd.

 _That Ruler turned Assassin was dangerous, but losing Lancer was not worth it to remove her._ The priest took a mental count of the two sides, which was far from ideal. Himself, Lu Bu and Gilgamesh against four Servants and the last Tohsaka.

Not only had Gilgamesh's **((Clairvoyance))** or similar Skill not been useful, it seemed obvious now, in hindsight, that informing them about Jeanne d'Arc's location had been essentially an act of sabotage. _There was no way that he didn't know there was a dark Jeanne there._ Though Saint Heroic Spirits shouldn't even have a dark side.

Not only had his playing around with Emiya's Lancer lost the previous War's Grail, he was clearly after his own goals again. Unfortunately, suiciding him would just have been a waste since it wasn't possible to summon any more Servants in the last War. Or in this one due to being Overseer.

 _But there's also Command Spells to consider._

As he stepped out of the Church, Kirei saw only one Servant. Because it was so massive everyone else in the group was blocked by its large golden wings.

" _Gilgamesh, what is that?_ " he snapped.

" _Apparently Rider absorbed some of the corruption from the tainted Grail. Search your own heart._ "

* * *

(Rin)

She carefully peeked around Rider's wings so see Kirei standing between Lu Bu and Gilgamesh, and was spotted in turn.

"Tohsaka," the priest said with a put-upon air of disappointment. "This is how you repay me?"

"Exactly," she shot back.

He simply exhaled before raising a hand towards Rider. A sleeve fell back slightly to reveal numerous Command Seals, one of which was glowing slightly. "As Overseer, by my Command Spell, Rider. Turn around and kill them."

 _What?!_ The onset of night seemed to accelerate as Rider chuckled darkly.

* * *

(Sakura)

Whether that would actually have had worked had her new link with Medusa not somewhat overwritten the standard one she had to the Grail hardly came to mind.

" _Go,_ " she sent to her Servant guardian angel, who shot forward with amazing speed for her size. Lu Bu quickly stepped forward to meet her charge, thrusting the point of his halberd square at her chest.

With a powerful beat of her wings, Rider arrested her movement, stopping short as Berzerker's point reached its maximum extension, then reaching out to grab it with a hand. Almost immediately another one took hold of the weapon's shaft just below the axe-head. A moment followed where the two tried to wrench the weapon out of the other's grip, before Lu Bu switched it over to gauntlet form.

Apparently receiving a telepathic order from Shirou, Kojirou quickly skirted around the pair as they closed into fistfight-range, making a beeline for Kotomine since Lancer had unexpectedly not taken to the field yet.

About a moment later, several swords appeared near Gilgamesh before an equal number of black spears flashed into being right in front of them, shattering into sprays of metal shards. Apparently more interested in the Caster who had shot them at him than anything else, Gilgamesh took to the air, bringing out more weapons as another volley of spears broke on them.

"Crap," Rin muttered, as Kojirou continued towards the now unguarded Kirei. "He _is_ going after her. Kuro, shoot him."

Gilgamesh went flying overhead, bringing out more swords to block a trio of arrows shot from the other Archer's black bow. "He can see all the missiles coming," she hissed, shooting several more to no greater effect than the incoming volleys of spears.

"Sasaku can't seem to find Lancer or Assassin anywhere," Shirou relayed with some doubt in his voice.

"Ok, keep shooting Gilgamesh," Kuro's Master directed encouragingly. "He can't see behind him, so once he's between us and Caster..."

* * *

(Kojirou)

 _Hmph, taking down a Master directly, seems more like an Assassin's tactic,_ Saber grumbled inwardly as his sword traced out an elegant curve towards said Master's neck. His eyes opened slightly as a set of three Black Key blades intercepted the slash, which _shouldn't be possible._

Kotomine flung his other hand's Keys at Kojirou without hesitation. The Servant deflected them with one defensive cut that hit all three mid-flight.

 _Going by the surge of magical energy, he's using Command Spells to fuel Reinforcement like Tohsaka's technique._ Or rather, he was the one that taught it to her in the first place.

Turning while apparently closing in, Kojirou brought the hilt of his weapon across his body on the opposite side as his opponent before abruptly turning the other way and thrusting it at lighting speed to skewer the priest who was taking out a set of Black Keys to replace the ones he had thrown.

Almost smiling, Kirei leaned to one side, his left hand moving in the opposite direction using the momentum to cut at the Saber's thrust, causing it to miss. Having reloaded his right, he tried to close and slash, but Kojirou's sword being much longer than even a longsword meant that the Black Keys were simply out of range.

He glanced downwards quickly. _The ground here is fairly level. Though it seems almost unfair..._ At least, being a technique, it didn't use any more energy than performing three cuts normally.

* * *

(Kirei)

 _If Gilgamesh gets to Caster, two Command Spells at once should suffice to ensure he kills her. That will do in Saber._

I blink as Saber starts winding up for something. As he moves for another attack, the tip of his weapon started to blur slightly more than its speed would account for. _Is he actually going to...?_

 **((Tsubame Gaeshi))**

I throw myself to one side. _If I can at least avoid one cut, the vertical one, then with each hand blocking one of the two horizontal ones...!_

The blur grows before resolving itself into three separate swords closing in like the pattern Gilgamesh described. _Apparently, re-aiming the technique was not trivial once he commits to the three cuts._

Sasaki Kojirou frowns as one sword misses and the other two slam into Black Keys, but apparently not for being foiled as he doesn't even attempt to move after the three swords return to being a single one in his hand.

*thud*

The first sign that something had gone wrong was when my legs dropped me onto the ground. I turned my head to see Tohsaka's Archer standing behind me with a shortsword in her left hand.

Going by the pain, the other one was buried in my back. _Archer didn't mention that she could teleport._

Berserker and Rider seemed well-matched at the moment, but that fight would be over soon once Saber and Archer joined in to help their ally.

J _ust get a bit closer Gilgamesh, then I'll repay your cleverness in full._


	48. Thrill of the Case (Battle, pt 2)

**Thrill of the Chase  
**

* * *

(Sasaku)

Unlike in the previous battle, there was a full half an hour to setup various plans before Shirou and the others reached the church, but Sasaku had several locations to prepare before then, and worked with haste.

 _Hopefully Gilgamesh and the others will expect me to have traveled with the others and separated to overwatch. Once he's out of sight of Shirou we might be able to communicate safely though ultimately they'll have to handle the remaining three-on-three themselves._

Thanks to both the Tohsaka library and Medusa's information regarding her own Blood Fort system, attempting to use magic circle focal points to create small "Outposts" of the Realm proved a workable trade of magical energy for fast and well-controlled setup. Of course, like her own improved spear use, it helped that she wasn't using them for spell-based attacks, which would likely whiff against GIlgamesh's Magic Resistance.

 _I should thank Tohsaka for telling me about the Magus Killer's MO some day._

* * *

l

* * *

(Gilgamesh)

 _So that's where she was._

When the first volley came in, he immediately identified that Caster had set up on a building which was partially obscured by another one. This allowed her to move out and attack while preventing early discovery during his pre-battle survey of potential attack vectors.

Without further thought he dashed upwards towards her, pulling out a number of swords and daggers to block spears that were clearly being aimed at him. Intercepting another two volleys, twenty-one spears in total, confirmed his suspicions from watching Lancer parry similar attacks using Gae Blog. _The spears seem to have issue phasing through Noble Phantasms, contact immediately forces them to become solid._

This was a very good thing, because otherwise Caster would have an unblockable and extremely lethal attack by timing her spears to materialize inside targets. Which she was probably doing at that moment.

 _Wait, is that Archer... bah!_ He pulled out a couple more swords, set near his feet as arrows came up from below. To make matters worse she had had some form of explosive shot though how it functions wasn't clear since he only saw it through Rider's **(Blood Fort)** and couldn't fully get his analysis on it as a result.

 _I could jank my acceleration to avoid her attacks, but that wouldn't let me dodge the explosive shot. And without line of sight getting a good analysis of her shooting from behind me isn't possible. Well..._ Pulling out a handy mirror Noble Phantasm, he set it off to the side to at least be able to see the reflection, though the item itself prevented engaging **(Sha Naqba Imuru)** since he directly viewing, well, the mirror. It would have to suffice.

However, not long after passing above the three humans and Archer, the expected attacks from behind ceased. He kept half an eye on the mirror though, just in case the Servant was charging her shot, but it seemed she had switched to swords. _Odd given that there are no other Servants around to alarm them. No, wait, there's..._

He flicked to the side as a cloud of smoke abruptly exploded from the side of the building in front of him, between him and Caster's presumed location, but no missiles came out of it. _Repositioning?_

Running up the building he throught about the rooftop topography that had been checked out earlier in the afternoon. Not only were the nearby office buildings at differing hights, rooftop construction existed on some of them, further breaking up sight and firelines.

 **Armor,** some sort of instinct warned him as he approached the parapet of the roof. Though he was pretty sure that Caster wouldn't attack him at any ranges that might prevent being able to pull out defensive weaponry, and he didn't quite like the golden armor, _it's probably a good idea..._

The helpfulness of the Skill promptly proved itself as he crested the lip into the sight sky and a very large number of small ball bearings. Just before a gauntleted hand blocked his view of the incoming swarm, and protected his face from it, he noticed that at least some of them seemed to have been magically Reinforced. _How did she learn to do that?_ The small steel balls bounced harmlessly off his body armor, but would have probably done some damage without it.

Several clouds of smoke decorated the rooftops of the nearby buildings. Most of them were simply from very smoky fires. A light prevailing wind served to spread out the obscurantists, which Caster had probably been planning on.

Gilgamesh was not in the least taken by surprise when spears came from his right. The first smoke explosion had probably been used to cover her repositioning there when he moved to the left and went up that building instead.

Rather than simply block, he sent five swords flying back in the direction she had attacked from, but unsurprisingly nothing happened. _Moved again?_

Picking one of the rooftops at random, he bounded over towards it. Most attacks wouldn't be able to get through the armor, and while he was fine with Kirei's foreseen death (from behind, how ironic) playing ring-round-the-roses was not what he wanted at the mom-

* * *

(Sasaku)

She grimaced as the now golden Archer was blown backwards by a pair of directed explosives but not particularly harmed. Sending another volley of spears as she hopped off the edge of her rooftop to travel to another building via the air at a lower level, Sasaku watched as her opponent recovered and blocked the spears through a couple of very small magic circles acting like small scrying-based cameras.

She didn't miss the fact that he made for a different rooftop that the one she had just abandoned, probably at random. After a bit of thought, she adjusted course and glided through an open window rather than move up to the roof.

 _No wonder why urban warfare is so difficult,_ she mused as Gilgamesh landed on his chosen rooftop, which was actually clear of explosives. _Judging from the angle of elevation, the range should be..._

* * *

(Gilgamesh)

 _Damnit, that's a good idea._ He backflipped into the air, throwing weapons below him as numerous spears seemly erupted from the floor and slammed into them. Earlier he had expected Sasaku to either dodge,avoid or try to knock his attacks off course by shooting spears at them. Clearly, a selection of homing Noble Phantasms would overcome all these, at least ones which he could be quite sure wouldn't accidentally kill her (hardly any Noble Phantasm qualifying as 'less lethal').

Using multiple floors worth of building as a shield was rather inventive. It wouldn't stop a full reverse-causality type attack, but many of those were obviously lethal, if he could even use them fully, anyway.

 _Strategically, it seems she wants to turn it into a question of whose energy runs out first._ It was probably a workable strategy, he had to admit. It was possible to simply start leveling buildings using various Holy Swords but that would rapidly burn through his energy supply, and if she had presumably prepared fallbacks to densely built-up areas of Fuyuki, which could have been set up a day or more in advance, it would hardly be possible to clear cut everything.

Switching rooftops, making sure to throw more swords down in advance to correct for the lower detection range due to the floor, he examined the next volley and frowned. She was probably moving around the buildings in the airspace between them, but the several seconds of delay between a spear leaving her and reaching him meant the information was of limited use.

 _But she's able to track me, not just through smoke clouds, but buildings as well_ he realized. _It can't be just technology if she's jumping around, so a magecraft solution..._ Looking around he noticed that many of the smoke sources gave off dense clouds that flowed downwards as well as horizontally due to wind. Furthermore, the odd topography caused even a relatively steady wind to push smoke around rather erratically.

 _There must be magic circles which are obscured by smoke, from some angles, but not others._

* * *

(Sasaku)

Gilgamesh jumped to a nearby rooftop and immediately took apart a magic circle by hitting it with some anti-magic Noble Phantasm. She shot some spears at his back, but he immediately moved, so they missed.

 _The improved explosive devices don't do much, even fragmentation ones can't scratch that armor. On the other hand, he seems to take care against the spears._ She had snuck in a few specially Reinforced spears, but while they did not shatter on hitting a weapon in defense position, they were also unable to do anything besides bounce off. Furthermore, while the reinforced point did not break, this was more because the spear was not shot at high speed due to the distance.

She thought about the distances involved. _If I start near the top, and move downwards and further away at the same time, the angle will be the same. But the intervening buildings will force increasing shot velocity, which will make the range obvious if he notices when blocking them._

" _Shirou, how's the battle going on your end?_ " It wasn't possible for her to keep at it for too much longer, because the amount of information handling it took was leading to a steadily increasing energy drain.

" _Kuro took out Kotomine, and everyone is ganging up on Berserker. But Lancer, Assassin and all the other Masters aren't around._ "

" _I'm currently moving our battle away from you, so communication might be patchy. Make sure to be careful as the church may be booby-trapped, so send in Kuro first to check for wards, runes and so on._ "

" _What? You need to draw him back to use Rider's Noble Phantasm..._ " There was a brief pause. " _You never actually planned to do that, did you?_ " Another pause. " _I should've known, since there was no way Gilgamesh couldn't have known by just seeing Rider directly._ "

" _I'm sorry._ "

" _You should be._ "

* * *

(Gilgamesh)

While it was hard to tell if removing her magic circles was having any real effect due to their likely redundancy, he was able to tell via the spears' heading and speed that his target was trying to move away, rather than around him. _She can't have been thinking to just run away, surely_ he smiled to himself while following. The high-rise area transitioned to softer terrain with lower density residential zones in that direction, making her current tactics a lot less effective.

 _I was hoping for something more dramatic, exchanging clouds of missiles, rather than being one-sidedly pelted through buildings._ Hurriedly giving chase, he jumped into the last tall building before taking out a long strip of cloth. _I didn't want to use invisibility for this, but since you elected for magical spying..._

Jumping down a stairwell several stories, he exited through an open window, heading directly for Sasaku who was jumping across the various houses in the area without looking around. It seemed like she was simply heading away from the church as fast as possible, probably her plan from the start. _It's not a bad one, just rather unexpected. Since Lu Bu has powerful armor and Cu Chulainn has **(Protection from Arrows)** , their odds are not much worse without her, while they are terrible if I was there._

As though spooked by something, Caster abruptly took to the sky. He checked, but there was nothing up there. Regardless, due to having several levitation or flight Noble Phantasms available, he could probably go higher than she should... _once I get closer, what about a selection of spears?_

As the distance began to narrow, Gilgamesh prepared a dozen weapons, then on a while doubled the number. Reaching up, he prepared to store the **(Cloth of Concealment)** , but at that moment-

 ** _?_**

His eyebrows raised as something, somethings rather, slammed into his still-invisible back with ridiculous momentum, flinging up upward even faster. _Spears from below?!_

Bringing the first spear to mind into his hand, he thrust at Sasaku as she abruptly cut whatever flight she had and began dropping. He threw several at her but she, predictably enough, randomly changed acceleration enough to avoid them as more of her spears came from below.

 _I see, there must be some special rule about those. And Caster probably thew some fine dust behind her or so on then guessed where I was,_ he mused while speeding up for another pass. _Unfortunately, even if they came from the ground at maximum speed, they can't pierce the armor._ Maybe a small dent, he'd have to check it later.

As the ground drew closer and closer, Sasaku abruptly changed tack again, moving straight up, but doing so meant coming just a bit too close to Gilgamesh, which he had been waiting for. She was completely caught off guard as several chains appeared behind her, on the opposite side from Gilgamesh, and snatched her out of the sky.

* * *

l

* * *

(Kotomine Kirei)

Berserker had held out very well, all things considered, but all that was driven out of his mind as a flash of smug satisfaction reached him from the link with Archer. _Took that brat long enough,_ he grumbled, sensing that had the Servant played around more much longer, his damaged heart would have finally given up. _Well then..._

" _Gilgamesh._ "

"Y _ou're still alive? Busy now, don't hold out on my account._ "

He wished he could see that annoyance's face at the moment. " _Archer, by all my **six** Command Spells, kill everyone in Fuyuki._" The sudden lack of smugness or any response was more than satisfying enough though.


	49. Left Behind

**Left Behind**

* * *

(Kuro)

Even over their fight against the flagging Berserker, all the Servants present caught what Kirei had mumbled.

 _... **everyone** in Fuyuki?_

It's far too late, even with teleportation, but that thought came only after the sharp flash of instantaneous motion over to the fallen priest. _I should have spared a second or two to decapitate him, even though there's no good reason for a human to survive being run through the heart_ I mumble while correcting the mistake overlate.

" _What are you doing?_ " Rin asked sharply as Lu Bu broke off and began running in the direction of the Emiya estate, the three Masters quickly dashing out of his way as Rider and Saber moved to protect them just in case.

" _Kotomine just burned all his six remaining command spells to force Gilgamesh to kill everyone. We need to get out of Fuyuki before he does._ "

" _WHAT?!_ "

* * *

(Kojirou)

" _I see,_ " Shirou sent after a moment, while looking at his hand. " _Have you heard the legend of Samson?_ "

" _What? Snap out of it,_ " It's obvious that what's really on his mind are the two now faded-to-grey Command Seals. " _She isn't dead, if that's what you're thinking._ "

" _I doubt you can prove that,_ " he retorted as I and the other two Servants grab the Masters and prepare to run for it. " _I can. If she was dead those Seals would be their usual red because Caster set up a 'novation' so that the pair of contracts involving her would be replaced by a single one._ "

" _You both know I can't actually supply you with enough magical energy, right?_ " Kuro was excitedly trying to point out something in the distance while awkwardly holding onto Rin who was physically much larger than she was.

" _Not really an issue, since we were heading into battle. If some of us died, the rest would be fine as long as all Masters survived. And I at least can maintain full combat efficiency for the three days of my own reserves._ " I couldn't see as far as an Archer, but it appeared that a shooting star was flying horizontally above Fuyuki.

Wait a moment.

* * *

(Medusa)

Though the wings would allow us to travel faster, I doubt Sakura would appreciate outrunning her friends, especially if they ended up dying while she survived.

" _Yes, it's likely the case that Lancer and Assassin were already dead,_ " Sakura commented. " _No doubt Gilgamesh had expected, or forseen rather, Kirei's death. But that last bit might've been more spontaneous._ "

" _If so Caster guessed right that likely Assassin was not on Kotomine's side. Perhaps Gilgamesh used that to eliminate both Servants, though it's hard to imagine Lancer being taken out by an Assassin. Even with a sneak attack, he had Rune-Reinforced armor that I saw, and **(Battle Continuation)**._"

" _About that, what are we going to do without her? I know we can out-wait Gilgamesh but that don't solve our greater problem._ "

" _We're going to slow down so you can hear what Kuro is saying."_

In the distance, a rising meteor that had caught Archer's attention was growing slowly in brightness and speed. "That's one of Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasms!" she explained, pointing out a few details, like the gold plating on it, that we couldn't see due to the distance. "He's headed out of Fuyuki as well."

"But why would be have to run?" Rin asked in confusion. "Unless, ah I see. Moving away while he's still able to resist the Command Spells means the effect will be weaker, and if he uses up enough magical energy it might even prevent using something like **(Ea)** which Kirei presumably expected him to be forced to do."

"What about Sasaku?" Emiya asked, voicing his predictable concern. "And Berserker too."

"We should go back and secure Ill- the Einzbern Master," Kuro said, taking out a small note which she handed to him. "She should be able to control him. As for Caster, well Rider seems to have a clue she will **definitely** share with us."

"What's this?" he looked at the note which was apparently addressed to him. "Rider, explain while we return to the church, since apparently it's safe and Saber assures me that we'd never be able to outrun an Anti-World Noble Phantasm anyway." All eyes turned to me.

"He's probably grabbed Caster." I reply simply.

"But Kuro didn't spot her," Rin said right as Shirou shook his head and added, "I can't reach her, and couldn't even before we started running."

"That's... he might have stashed her inside his **(Gate of Babylon)** ," Kuro guessed. "Because then she would go from being right next to him to not 'in Fuyuki'."

"Huh? But he doesn't just put anything in... oh no." Sakura started, having cottoned on to my thoughts on the matter.

"He doesn't have any goddesses in there," I explain concisely. "Let alone a foreign one from outside the World which, weak or not, is definitely rarer." I decided to leave out the obvious need for Gilgamesh to own the things in the Gate, but Kuro seemed to have realized it already.

"We have to go after him."

"There's no way we can catch up to him," Saber pointed out. "Unless you still have the use of a **(Pegasus)** but even then we'd use an unaffordable amount of energy. Anyway, tell us about that note."

"I'm assuming this is Gilgamesh's handwriting," he addressed that to Kuro, who simply said, "He stuck it to Berserker's back, and I saw it when I first got behind him to attack. Which was probably the point."

"It says 'Illya is being held inside. Show respect since she's the older Emiya.' and that's all." Kuro didn't seem surprised by this, since she had read it earlier, but Rin had a sudden look of 'aha'.

"So the rumors were true then, no wonder they sent a homunculus as Master. And they must have been expecting Kirei to kill her in case she did survive the War."

"You're saying my father, er Emiya Kiritsugu, made a homunculus?" Shirou asked naturally enough.

"Oh no, he married one. And apparently they had a child. Would that make her a half-homunculus? I have no idea. Anyway we should get to her before Berserker does. There's the possibility that he might drain her to death if she can't control him. That happened to the last War's Master of Berserker and, well, would fit Lu Bu's treatment of his real-life masters too."

"... it also happens to keep us busy here while he runs off."

"That it does, but..." she glanced at Kuro. "We'd never catch up to him anyway. Yes, I know you have **(Independent Action)** , but without the Grail's passive support Rider and Saber will never make it, and unless you have some idea to-"

"Yeah, I got it," Archer replied sulkily. It seemed that they were only continuing an earlier unvoiced discussion. "Fine, Illya right? Let's go."

"Do you know her?" Rin asked. "It would seem she's been the Einzbern's well-kept secret for the last ten years."

"Oh, she's the 'me' of this world. Well, perhaps not exactly, since 'no duplicates' but then again I'm partially Heroic Spirit so perhaps that's the loophole I fell through."

"What?!"

* * *

l

* * *

(Fuyuki Church, basement childcare)

(Illyasviel)

 _Archer..._

Since discovering he had been hanging around since the last Grail War, it was natural to wonder if 'George' had it in for me due to father's Lancer blowing up 'his' Grail. One sucker punch later I now for certain he apparently did _not_. After all, it wouldn't have been surprising, in a manner of speaking, if I had never regained consciousness as I happen to be doing right now.

I knew full well that the Einzberns would most likely have planned my demise, nevermind that at most I only had about a year or two of lifespan left, itself already a lot longer than most would have expected of a homunculus 'like me.' That said, it probably doesn't matter at the moment because, while the magic circle that had probably been keeping me unconscious (so I could continue to supply Berserker with magical energy, most likely) had apparently been broken, I was pretty well tied up and...

Seeing Tohsaka's Archer creeping towards me with a sword out as though approaching some serious threat is almost laughable, if it wasn't for the fact she was most likely about to kill me... _huh, did Kotomine think a gag would prevent me from using Command Spells? Maybe if they were standard ones._

* * *

(Rin)

"Hey, hey wait!" I call out quickly. After I took down the suspicious magic circle around the unconscious homunculus, Kuro pulled out one of her swords, presumably to cut her free.

"What?" she asked somewhat peeved. We had carefully gone through the church, and suspiciously enough besides various Reinforcing runes all over, the magic circle I had just taken apart was the only other bit of magecraft in evidence.

 **Very** suspicious.

"I said to _untie_ her," I repeated from about a minute ago, when we cleared the door of the daycare room. "If there's something hidden in the rope, just slicing into it is the _worst_ thing to do."

"Hmm..." she grumbled, putting the weapon away. Obviously a human magus' trap on such a scale wouldn't harm her, but blowing up Illyasviel would probably not go well with, well, anyone.

Kuro took only a moment to analyze the knots by touch and undo them, before hauling the other girl to her feet. Nothing happened. _That was unexpected._

"... ok carry her out."

* * *

(Outside the church)

(Shirou)

"Do you buy Kuro's story?" I asked Sakura. The rest of us were waiting outside, just in case either something 'happened' in the church or Berzerker returned.

"Hmm, though it sounds like something out of that, uh something Phantasm show, who knows? Certainly moonlighting as a 'magical girl' with some connection to Heroic Spirits might allow one to be summoned as a Servant. Add to that she has some idea about the Grail System which none of us did, and it seems more likely than not."

"You'd think, by the name, that a magical girl would be a **Caster** ," I comment. "Though she was summoned after Sasaku, so that slot was taken. And if the Heroic Spirit system is different in her world, the Grail system might be as well. If we can even verify something like that."

We watched as Rin exited the church with Kuro close behind carrying the girl we had been discussing.

I took a careful look at her, which hadn't been possible in the earlier battle. "Gilgamesh said she's older than me?" I asked no one in particular, seeing how she was only a little larger than the Archer carrying her, who was only about twelve, as confirmed by Sasaku.

"Homunculi don't necessarily age or grow like humans," Rin explained. "Let's not wait around. Just because Assassin and Lancer are _probably_ dead doesn't mean we wouldn't be safer back at home."

"Sounds reasonable," Sakura said before adding with a small smile, "Rider, grab her and let's go."

"Eh?!" Though taken by surprise at being scooped up by the massive Servant, she quickly recovered her composure while sitting in the crook of her arm. Sakura hopped on the other.

" _Saber, if you don't mind._ " He didn't, and we were soon on our way back. I couldn't help but turn around slightly to look in the direction that Gilgamesh had left Fuyuki in.

* * *

(Sakura)

It was perhaps a good thing that Kuro had the new girl to distract her. Rin's Archer had some sort of breakdown when she put two and two together and fully realized that Gilgamesh had taken off with Caster.

I can understand her worry, for all that as far as I knew the church's 'George' was quite unlike the Gilgamesh of legend. _He certainly wouldn't go to such lengths just to 'have a chat' with her,_ whispers... something in my head. My thoughts freeze. Wait, it isn't the Count... it's ironic that at this moment, experiencing auditory hallucinations would probably be a 'best case' scenario.

I feel a brief chill. I know, though I really wish I didn't from experience...

 _At least she has some way out. Though it is messed up to have a killswitch in yourself and be aware of the trigger conditions._ I frown while looking at my left arm, and that's when I realized.

Caster's transplanted magic circuit is nestled where one of the worms used to be.

* * *

l

* * *

(Emiya estate, living room)

"Are you alright?" Shirou asked with some concern when we arrived back at his home. "I'm fine," I try to reassure him, to little effect.

"It's pretty late, and we were also fighting early in the morning too," he concluded after a while. "Saber, keep an eye on the new girl. No Kuro, it would be better if you hopped onto the roof and kept watch since... well we can't use all the features of the Realm." A brief moment of silence followed. "Rider, er..."

"If you want to continue with the books Caster lent you, do it in her room," I add. "It's close enough to the center that the energy cost of a physical form are greatly reduced."

" _Thanks._ "

" _Just keep me posted if you find anything. I wouldn't be surprised if that girl left a note or something in those books._ "

" _She would, wouldn't she? I will._ "

After a moment, Rin offered to keep watch with Saber. It seemed odd, since the point was as a Servant, he didn't need to sleep while as a human, she did, but there was something between them. I don't mean the sword practice, though why he would agree in the first place is already telling.

"Let's all get some rest," Shirou concluded. "Let me know if Illyasviel wakes up, any information she has might be critical. For all we know, Gilgamesh was planning on it too." His frown showed what he thought about that.

* * *

(Shirou's room)

Shirou still looked concerned when he lay down next to me, as if he knew about my thoughts, but simply kept silent as he circled an arm around me. There was really no need to voice anything aloud.

...

Magi don't believe in God. Or rather, there are many gods, but they don't seem to do much since the Age of Gods, and especially the Age of Magic ended. It's odd though, because priests of various faiths can perform certain Mysteries, and in a way, praying even to a deity that isn't listening is a ritual of a sort. Rune magecrafts to some extent even work for non-magi, so I have to wonder if it's possible elsewhere.

Even though, she certainly isn't listening, and clearly couldn't do anything to save herself at the moment, Sasaku **is** some sort of divine entity. And not only the closest one I've encountered, but one who _promised_ me... She did say that no one worshiped her, but perhaps if one prayed to her-

"That's not quite logical," a familiar voice sounds out softly from the direction of the door. "If it's Mysteries, I've already explained to you the system."

"You're back?" I jump up and run over towards her. "When did you...?"

I stop abruptly, immediately suspicious. The room isn't as large as the distance I just covered, but she's still further away. "Who are you?" I demand, getting ready to call on Medusa.

" **I** 'm you," the speaker said crisply, revealing herself to be a somewhat older looking Caster. Perhaps a bit older than me, say twenty years old or so. "To be specific, you are 'speaking to' the fragment of Sasaku which you absorbed into yourself."

"So you were the one talking in my head earlier?" This must be what her 'original' self was.

"There's no **me** to actively speak of," she corrected me. "Effectively, you're querying a database." She waved a hand about in the darkness that surrounded us, the action clearly visible even though there was no light to speak of. "This is just your own way of processing it, **I** suppose. I wasn't exactly sure it would work, but here **we** are."

I remembered one of Rider's concerns. "So you, well _she_ , did put something in it after all."

"Spike it? A gift. Which, mind you, was intended to be accessible only when I was dead, though I wasn't careless enough to directly set such a condition."

"Querying, right." I have an idea what the access condition might be, but it doesn't matter to me. "So, what was your whole real plan?"

She seems unsurprised, which is understandable enough if she's who she says she is. Or isn't, as it were. "Did you really think I lied to you on that?"

"What, it was all true?"

"Didn't go into all the details. Well there's a decent chance the Grail can't be manipulated like I hoped, but you know that already. I'm not so stupid to die, er, well, lose to an obvious contingency like that. The main problem is going to be our energy economy. Frankly speaking, Medusa can probably be resummoned, but it's very likely that without special measures Kuro and Kojirou will be lost forever if they die. But you and Shirou will certainly be lost unless we find a loophole like they might have used. So don't die."

"... but we've won, right?"

"Until the Grail shuts off the support, which it will at least once its reservoir runs low, I expect. Given that it nominally charges sixty years to run a War, you can't expect it to support four of us for very long. And no, adding you, Shirou, Rin, Illyasviel and the leylines are certainly not going to be enough to make up for that. Also, doing anything to the Grail System via my Magecraft will probably burn through energy at a high rate."

"So we're dead in the water then?"

"Just before the magical circuit transfer, I learned from Saber that Rin's family has been tasked with constructing a Mystic Code known as the Jeweled Sword Zelretch. It is possible that via this line of research, one can use the Second Magic to allow tapping mana from multiple parallel worlds. Tohsaka obviously expected me to recognize how valuable such an option would be."

 _ **(Tsubame Gaeshi)**._ "Did you know that Kuro might be from a parallel world?"

"It wasn't confirmed to me, no."

"Suppose that 'you' are dead. What would happen then?"

The older Caster just smiles. "That's up to you. There's no **me** to actually do anything, remember?"

"Tell me everything you know."

"Ah, that's not possible. Sadly, we're inherently incompatible format-wise. Currently, you are able to run both sides due to having one of my circuits. It's a bottleneck which means you can only translate parts at a time. There's also compression. And regardless, taking in a great flood of information directly from another neutral-network type format might overwhelm your own sense of self."

"I would like to avoid becoming someone else, even you."

"Indeed. **I** don't mind being copied, or being a copy, but overwriting someone is much like murder."

"About that, do you know about Grandfather's special worms? Not the one you removed, I mean."

"I have no idea. Actually, I only encountered the one you lost after removing this circuit from myself, so... you should have shared with me if you wanted my help with that." She doesn't make any effort to hide the implicit accusation, but then again if it's really just an avatar made by me, I guess that's to be expected.

"Can you help me with it now?"

"That's hard, since if you don't know what you need to know, you can't search for it. If you asked me, I could, but you're basically asking yourself."

"Well, if this isn't the real world, we have plenty of time to explore. Or..." I pause as part of the answer to that reaches me.

"Not quite," Sasaku says, taking over the explanation. "Real time actually flows faster than our conversation, as you are running not only your own consciousness, but also a part of mine, and translating. By the way, Shirou might be trying to wake you up any time now, especially since he tends to rise early and might panic when he realizes you're not in a standard sleep state. And the fact that you are expending magical energy while supposedly asleep."

"Damn," I mutter, abruptly realizing that she's right and he _is_ trying to wake me up. Or perhaps it's one of those things where the dream ends right as you're about to wake up. "We'll talk later."

"Later." It's hard to tell who dismissed who. Or perhaps it's a pointless distinction.

"I'm up, I'm up," I mutter hazily to Shirou, a little thrown off by the sudden sluggishness of my actual body waking up in comparison to my perfectly clear 'sleeping' version. "Is everyone okay?"

"It's still night time, but Illya's up, and I noticed you were... are you fine?"

"Yeah. Let's see what she has to say."

"Quite a lot, apparently. A little after Rin went to sleep, she got up and started dumping information on Saber like her life depended on it. Thankfully, she's perfectly lucid."

* * *

l

* * *

 _ **Notes:**_

Novation is a process to replace two contracts with one, possibly to remove someone on opposite ends of each. Since Sasaku is Kojirou's Master and Shirou's Servant, she used the term (not necessarily perfectly accurately) to refer to making Kojirou Shirou's Servant directly. This might have been part of her argument that he was Shirou's Servant, despite actual contracts being otherwise. Obviously we can't see if it would actually work (since she isn't dead) or if she was lying (then Shirou would be right about the Command Seals).

The fake Sasaku uses a different personal pronoun than the actual one. The actual Sasaku would be using 'atashi', the other two use 'watakushi' which is deliberate on her part. (Previously I used 'original-me' which just sounds weird). Thus the fake uses I/we etc to refer to the actual Sasaku and bolded **I,we** etc for herself. In FGO you can see Eurayle/Stheno refer to 'Myself' when talking about the other (but Medusa is always separate). I suppose an English equivalent would be using significantly different intonations of I, or pauses etc.

We will probably see some of the discussion with Illya explicitly. Though I did skip over Kuro's bit in this chapter, it will show up where relevant in that conversation.


	50. Fourth, Fifth, and More

**Fourth, Fifth and More**

* * *

(Illyasviel)

"And that's everyone..." Despite being quite spacious, the Emiyas' living room was decidedly cramped with three Servants (the massive one more than made up for the tiny one), three humans and herself.

The Archer, Kuro, made to sit on Shirou's lap before being shooed away by a disgruntled Matou who was herself pressed up against him, definitely not due to lack of space. Her presence here was quite interesting - she had been called _off_ watch since, according to Shirou when asking Tohsaka, Matou could apparently 'use' Caster's Bounded Field. Which was a bigger mystery since that Field stems from the Servant's **(Territory Creation)** and should be beyond human control.

"Then, I want to ask onii-ch-"

"Er yeah, about that, Gilgamesh already said you're older than me."

"Tsk." Playing the cute and easily-manipulated child was more useful than can be stated with words. "You don't seem surprised by that."

He paused for thought before deciding to carry on with the derail. "You doubtless know that my Caster, despite looking like she'd go to elementary school _with you_ , happens to be a millennium old."

I did. "I'm not a Servant, nothing about those should surprise anyone."

Tohsaka nodded, probably thinking about her late father's Archer, Gilgamesh. But, "Kuro there is you, but younger and a Heroic Spirit. Surprised?"

I simply gave her a flat look that hopefully made the magus feel like an idiot while filing away the information for later. Simply listening frequently yielded a very high return on the investment (minimal time) but there was one thing that had been on my mind recently.

"That aside, on- ah, Shirou, you have father's Avalon?" His suddenly blank expression answered positively. Rin looked confused, then suddenly understanding.

"What about it?" he asked cautiously, figuring that directly answering was unnecessary. Realizing that Matou looked about to pounce for some reason, I hurriedly waved away the issue. "Nothing. Well, if the Einzbern knew you had it they would've probably sent a hit team to retrieve that. But they think Lancer had it on her when she returned to the Throne, since it wasn't on father's corpse."

"Is this about the possibility of you having an actual Noble Phantasm?" Tohsaka asked. "But Kuro, you don't have anything like that, do you?" Archer shook her head.

"It's about why father died so quickly after the War," I explain my speculations on the matter. "He wouldn't if he had the sheath, but he did and decided to forgo it anyway."

"Saving Shirou?" Tohsaka asked though with a bit of a doubtful tone, and understandably so. "It's unlikely you could ever make the calculus work on that. Plus Einzbern would kill Shirou just for that interaction, one-sided as it was."

"Calculus as in what, save more people?" she muttered half to herself, but perfectly audible to me. "Are we talking about the same Emiya Kiritsugu here?"

"Like you know anything." I glared her down until Kuro, surprisingly enough, intervened with, "I think... it's more that what counts is the total number."

This comment caused me to frown before I realized it and stopped. "That's not quite right. How old _are_ you anyway?"

"This again?" Shirou interrupted, perhaps suspicious of an evasion. "Twelve." Kuro replied right afterwards.

"What happened in the Fourth Grail War?" I quickly follow up, with a growing sense of unease about what her answer might be.

"There wasn't one," she answered simply.

 _How can that be possible?_ "Wait, then you never met Lancer, Artoria Pendragon, that is?"

"Not directly, though I did encounter her Class Card. But she's a Saber."

"What? Oh... oh. Yes, she would be if she had **(Excalibur)** , but el-Melloi summoned a Knight of Fianna, Diarmuid, with dual swords. So to fit Artoria into the Lancer vessel... it picked the Princess Knight who had **(Caliburn)** and **(Rhongomyniad)**."

"What does Pendragon have to do with Kiritsugu's motivations?" Tohsaka circled the topic back around.

"A simple thing really. While they had a brief truce, she and Gilgamesh got into several debates about being a king. At some point Archer said that if one values life, preventing humanity's extinction would be worth almost anything, including almost every individual in humanity itself. His point being, I think, that one can save a life, but one can also make a life."

"I don't quite follow," Matou interjected abruptly. "Sasaku said something similar, but about simply outgrowing humanity, I think."

"That's not the same thing at all," Shirou corrected her. "Caster was saying that the Counter Force would be triggered into action if she posed a threat to humanity, so she wanted to go elsewhere to build her offshoot civilization."

"Hmm," I muse on this bit of information. "That might be difficult since I can see now that Gilgamesh might want her for something like that. But under him."

" _Under_ him?" Matou snapped suddenly as though it touched a nerve. "And what does that mean?"

I'm not quite sure how that wasn't clear. "Uruk, Babylon, they're not around now. Camelot and Britain as Artoria knew it, as well. Gilgamesh proposed dividing up the world between him, her, and Alexander. At least initially, anyway."

"But Alexander the Great conquered Persia, which is where Babylon was."

"He wasn't 'the Great'. Just like how Gilgamesh was not yet the king that Enkidu fought, and Artoria had drawn the Sword of Selection but not become king, he too was at the time when his father Phillip of Macedon was alive, before Corinth."

"Ah," said Saber suddenly. "He wanted them to each start off with a new kingdom, be it Babylonian, British, or Greek, and then fight it out. As kings rather than Servants."

"Something like that. Well actually... he asked Artoria to marry him, but not very seriously. I don't really know the details, but it seems like he was trying to jab at Alexander rather than being seriously interested in her. Which offended Lancer somewhat, but only when Gilgamesh killed Alexander did everything fall apart."

"Given the timing, it's likely Kirei had already taken over the contract." Tohsaka mused. "And when he thought to do it again, Gilgamesh was prepared."

"That would be my guess," I nod, remembering the events of the last few days of the previous War with odd clarity. "It should have been an easy victory for Kotomine, but he was distracted long enough that Artoria was able to take out the Grail. Or perhaps he didn't have the Command Spells to make Gilgamesh take her out."

"But why blow up the Grail, and half of Fuyuki with it?" Shirou exclaimed, remembering the events that followed soon after.

"The Grail is corrupted. Like the evil dijnn wish-granter, it will maximize destruction. Gilgamesh certainly knew the moment he saw it, and we did from... Mother's link to it, once it had manifested.

"What?"

"The fire was what happened _after_ **(Caliburn)** had burned out some of the gathered energies. Though it was more like trying to put out an oil well fire with high-explosives - if she had **(Excalibur)** it might have worked, or the mature version of her **Rhongomyniad.** "

"Wouldn't Gilgamesh have used his **(Ea)** on it if he knew it was that dangerous?" Kuro added.

"Servants can't simply attack the Grail, it's something that's woven into them at summoning. Command Spells can overcome that, or at least Father guessed so, correctly. Unlike Kirei, he already agreed with his Servant on what to do, so both of his remaining Command Spells would have served."

"So what you're saying is that the Fire was the _least destructive_ potential outcome." Sakura commented while glancing at Shirou who seemed deep in throught

"Sadly no, if it was possible to re-direct all the energies elsewhere, like upwards, the damage would be been greatly reduced. But due to the Grail System's corruption, it deliberately destabilized the Grail to forestall such good fortune. It was basically a minimax-type scenario."

"What would the worst-case scenario be?" Shirou mumbled.

"Who knows what a fully-powered wish-granter might be able to do. Outright human extinction is definitely possible, though much worse potentially depending on the details of what was actually wished. As far as I remember from the discussions after Mother's death anyway."

"About that," Kuro added quietly. "What happened to her, here?"

"After half of the Servants died, she went comatose as the Grail began to manifest. That also allowed its corruption to spread to her. I don't know the details."

"I don't get it," Tohsaka inquired, furrowing her brow. "She wasn't Artoria's Master, so how was she linked to the Grail?"

"..." I sighed. Well it was hardly as though the Einzbern would let me live whatever I did or didn't do. Or failing that, my own lifespan anyway. "To bring forth the Grail requires a great deal of magical energy, more than can be held within the Grail System directly. As a result, a Lesser Grail is maintained which collects the souls from the first few Servants to die, and then uses that to actually summon the Greater Grail, which is able to hold all the summoned Servants' souls and perform the wish-granting."

"Mother was a Lesser Grail," Kuro said after a brief pause in the discussion. "Wait, then in this War, you..."

"Yeah, it was always impossible for me to win this War."

* * *

l

* * *

(Medusa)

" _We have a problem,_ " I realized suddenly upon Einzbern's latest revelation.

" _We have plenty of problems,_ " she grumbled back. " _But what specifically?_ "

" _Is it possible that you're also a Lesser Grail? I mean the Count and also the energies I absorbed from you that changed my form.._."

"How many Servants have actually died so far?" Sakura asked. "Lancer and Assassin?"

"Those two, certainly. I can tell they've been 'collected'. Berserker is also..." she pauses but continues without flinching, "I think he went off after Gilgamesh and got so far from Fuyuki by the time he died that his soul is very fragmented. It might be irretrievable."

Illyasviel seemed done, but then she added. "The main family was worried because, well, Lu Bu. They were right, too. Even with his Skill **(Defiant)** disabled by **(Madness Enhancement)** the fact that I didn't raise its rank higher to eliminate his self-will but actually reduced it instead meant he could still do so of his own desire."

"You planned to have him attack them afterwards," Saber interjected. "A Servant like that would give any magi family some pause."

"Oh more than planned, he already agreed to it. They were 'above' me after all, and thus were prime targets for him. But more importantly, while _here_ I was able to quietly experiment on my maids."

"Er, ok?" Sakura doesn't seem sure if she liked the sound of that.

"Not in a bad way. Well most homunculi don't have fully-developed wills, but Mother and myself suggest this isn't necessarily the case. Anyway, the Einzbern family is mostly homunculi controlled by very few human magi."

"Ah." Shirou caught on immediately, probably from the discussions he mentioned with Caster. "You plan for them to join you in separating from the family."

"Not separatism, takeover. However, it's good that you brought this up, because-"

"You need us to do it _for_ you," Saber interjected in a deadpan tone.

"That too," she continued as though it was a scripted interaction. "More critically though, I cannot care for, or lead them as my own lifespan will run out in a year or two. Since your Caster is apparently already 'doing a thing' with Servants, I think this would dovetail perfectly."

There was a brief moment as everyone took in the various issues that had just been aired.

Sakura spoke first. "So you're asking for an alliance then? Since, naturally, you would be the head of the 'new' Einzbern."

"Wait a moment-" Shirou started, at the same moment I asked more privately, " _Don't we have enough on our plate without trying to fight a major family?_ "

" _We're in deep trouble, energy-wise,_ " she replied. " _Leylines aren't enough, ordinary people aren't unless we have a whole country's worth, and there aren't enough magi around. Einzbern homunculi can be stronger than most human magi, and 'reproduce' much faster._ "

" _You are not planning to enslave a new nation for magical energy generation._ " It is more a statement of fact than just belief. It wouldn't be like her, and it's more that I just don't know how she intends to go about it. But the answer is surprisingly simple. " _It's just taxes._ "

I felt a little foolish, or perhaps realized how jaded the world had made me, to jump to the worst possible solution. It makes sense, magi can give up quite a lot of magical energy without harm, as long as it does not drain their actual life force. Now obviously, they need it for their own research and so on, but Illyasviel's people probably wouldn't see such a need.

" _For now it's worth considering. Shishou said that the foundation stones are 'crushed' under the weight of the building, but it would not stand without them. It is not only foolish and short-sighted to oppress those under you, but simply wrong, because-_ "

" _Because 'it is not just the duty, but joy, of the greater, the powerful, the wealthy, to not only protect, but advance the good of the lesser, the weak, the poor,' is it?_ " I'm glad she actually taught that, since it seemed rather incredible when she spoke with me.

"Anyway..." Sakura began after listening to Shirou's brief objection in the time of our more lengthy telepathic conversation. "I believe properly we should defer to Caster in this matter. If she is dead then we'll... handle it if it comes to that?"

Illya took the proffered opening. "If you're worried about Gilgamesh, I'm pretty sure he'll bring her back safe and sound."

"And untouched?" Shirou asked with a hint of skepticism.

"What?" she responded with initial confusion. "Oh, I see. You haven't met him personally. He's very much a boy, if you catch my drift."

"... somehow it feels like we dodged a major bullet because my father, er, failed to summon him in a more powerful form," Rin said with a different sort of confusion.

"You did, according to the man, er boy, himself. Well, he said his older self messed up a lot of times, and I suspect he meant parallel worlds rather than just historically. But he also said he had help from an even older version of himself, so perhaps he was simply warned in advance."

"There are three versions of the King of Heroes." I raise an eyebrow to highlight the implications of this. "And somehow they can interact and 'help' one another in the Throne."

"Apparently. Well there's a second version of me right here who became a Servant while being younger and not even going through a Grail War, so who knows."

* * *

l

* * *

 **Notes:**  
minimax: Related to game theory. In this case, one side is trying to minimize the damage, while the other acts to maximize it.

Phillip of Macedon was killed at the theater in Corinth, so it fell to his son, Alexander, to take on the invasion of Persia among other things.

Sakura can only have "brief" conversations with fake Caster. While telepathic communication with Rider is much faster than speech, speaking with fake Caster is actually much slower.


	51. Courting a Caster (Battle)

**Courting a Caster**

* * *

(The earlier battle)

(Sasaku)

My last planned attack, a spread of maxed-out velocity tip-Reinforced spears from the Emiya estate didn't work. I estimate only five of the seven spears shot actually hit, but four of those were glancing at best. Even if the fifth did penetrate the presumably-thinner backplate of Gilgamesh's armor, it wouldn't suffice to take down a Servant.

But his tactics on the defense revealed to me something that he had discovered; the spears can't phase through Noble Phantasms, and _probably_ Servants as well. That means it might be possible to actually strike with high-velocity shots right into gaps, provided I was close enough to allow the spears to appear very close to him.

It's a calculated risk, but if I pull a descent homewards and he follows, sharply reversing into him would result in a very high relative velocity. Depending on his speed, it may be impossible for him to get a shot at me, especially if I pass very close to him with high angular momentum as seen from his inertial frame.

I've been running at about one-hundred-five percent of baseline cognitive cycling speed, but should crank it as high as safely possible for the actual pass, given that I only have one try and seven missiles in a volley to use. About fifteen seconds at one-hundred-fifty should be doable.

We're falling at a steady rate, and I pre-load the initial two volleys of spears. The first are regular spears, the second my last set of seven tip-Reinforced ones. _Time to bite the bullet and do this._

Simple acceleration up to around the speed of an airplane is relatively mundane and therefore cheap in terms of magical energy costs, but a very high rate of acceleration comes with heightened costs. I want to change the direction of my velocity by nearly 180 degrees, which is simple if it was a ball bouncing off a wall. But there's no wall, so I'll have to dump the momentum difference into the air around me, which isn't all that much.

A moment later the two of us are rocketing towards one another on a near-collision course. I can practically see the surprise on his face as a small gesture sends the first flight of spears ahead of me to give him something to block.

About one second to go. A set of golden daggers appears and blocks the spears. I can feel some sort of energy burning off as the weapons are forced into reality by the Noble Phantasms. Half a second.

A series of golden ripples open up to reveal emerging spearpoints. Not an ideal choice for an exchange during a fast pass, especially since I now know it is possible to pull out spears at speed to redirect them even at close range.

 _I don't have an ideal way to target the gaps in his back, but the standard areas should do; armpit, back of the knees, perhaps the inner thigh area._ Three sets of spears go flying.

It's at about when a few pairs of spears make contact with one another that I notice that Gilgamesh isn't using spears, but some sort of chain with spearheads at the ends. Though I can knock the point off course, the momentum of the chain behind it keeps that mass moving straight, as it isn't a rigid shaft. _Oh crap._

I think I hear him start in surprise as at least one point slides home, but it's impossible to avoid crashing directly into the chains now forming a net all around the two of us.

As the spearpoints I first knocked aside flick around about the time their trailing chains catch me, I have about a quarter of a second to realize that they are circling back in a trajectory that will send them ripping through me. Probably because Gilgamesh had expected me to try and evade, which I hadn't due to not realizing he had employed a chain-type weapon.

 _This is probably going to hurt._

* * *

l

* * *

(About three minutes later)

(Gilgamesh)

 _Acceleration burn completed smoothly._ After the initial surprise at Kirei's ridiculous last act had worn off, I noted with a hint of smugness that the Grail apparently couldn't actually apply six Command Spells at once, meaning I only had to hold off only the effect of the first two. Or perhaps it was a distance issue.

A lot of things had gone wrong, but quite a lot had worked out just as well, or better, than expected in handling the Grail and War situations. The only real oddity was that I couldn't figure out who the warning about 'Emiya's Saber' was actually about. _Even though it was one of the critical bits of information, too._ With Kirei dead, there wasn't much time even if the initial stages of Grail manifestation wouldn't lead to more outspill of whatever corruption remained within the vessel.

The fact that Caster didn't just keep the other Servant around her made avoiding him much easier. Not that Sasaki Kojirou _should_ pose much of a threat, but one should never give in to overconfidence, it being slow and insidious cause of embarrassing turnaround defeats.

 _Speaking of Caster..._

Pulling her out of the Gate isn't any harder than putting her in, but the real danger is... _we're far enough out, Kirei's gambit can't force my hand now._ I nodded to myself before frowning at the sight of the cut-up girl, seemingly only a couple years older than me, who the Gate dumped in a crumpled heap at my feet. The marks of the links of a chain were still visible on a few areas. I would have liked to strangle Kotomine myself for making me do just that much.

'Are you alive?" I ask while getting up from the throne-like chair. I can control Vimana well enough that there's no turbulence to speak of at cruising speed.

"Yes," she replies simply while trying to get to her feet, before giving up due to the damage on her left side, specifically the hip joint. "I can fix it..." Sasaku muttered, apparently undisturbed by the blood that was evaporating into green-and-gold specks around her.

"By the way, you have something else to wear, I hope."

She nodded, more focused for the moment on repairing her body than decency.

* * *

Now that I can actually see it properly, it's possible to confirm that the particular white dress she has changed into is the same one Artoria wore during the previous Grail War. Probably because it was the smallest in Irisviel's wardrobe, was thus chosen and resized for Artoria, which in turn made it a natural choice when Emiya was looking for something his Caster could wear.

 _Hmm._ Though she must have resized it, since on Artoria who is similar in build, it looked far looser. Indeed on Lancer my first impression was that it was like Enkidu's very loose clothing. Though this was equally likely due to not having really met him 'yet' in my lifetime.

Sasaku was looking around the open deck of the ship, checking that the previous mess had been cleaned up. Which it had, or else evaporated cleanly away. Why don't you just sit down,"I suggested, doing so myself. Though there might have been enough room on the only seat available, that would be rather inconveniently tight, so instead I moved to one side and tapped the arm on the other side, which she perched on after catching on to my signal.

* * *

"I suppose I shan't be making it to school on Monday." Caster comments idly into the air rushing by.

 _Really, you're going with that? Well then..._ "You're starting in the middle of the semester, does it matter?" I reply, as though it's the most natural topic to converse on. She simply shrugs, waiting for my actual response to her opening move.

 _No, I'm going to run with this ridiculous line._ There's time and it would be an unexpected counter. "Though I wouldn't mind seeing you wear a uniform again, don't you think the other one would suit you better?"

"What." She paused for a moment. "Like I could stand a day going to school with **literal** children. Which I highly doubt you did the last few years." It took me a moment to realize that she wasn't, like I was, thinking of the school's summer uniform, but rather the one of its elementary division.

"Of course not. It's just that for some reason that one uses a miniskirt."

Sasaku freezes for a fraction of a second before cautiously responding with, "Well they probably worried about tripping if it's a longer garment. Besides, no one would think of children lik-" she abruptly stops.

 _It should be far enough now._ I turn to look off in the direction of Fuyuki, confirming my hunch before setting Vimana down in a small clearing. I get off, followed by Caster after about a moment as the gleaming ship then disappears back into the Gate.

"I actually have both of them stored in the Armory," she said somewhat reluctantly while fussing with her dress.

 _Uh. Huh._ I was confused by her volunteering that before it occurred to me that she might have thought I _already_ knew that and was just testing her. Though that isn't possible, since that space is internal to her so I can't see it.

 _This was a pointless derail anyway._ "We're going to have to walk back, since I used up most of the magical energy getting out here," I announce. "But it probably isn't a good idea to try Spirit Form this far from Fuyuki."

* * *

"By the way, what's your actual name? Not the Spirit Origin True Name, but whatever people call you at home." I offered, seemly as small talk, but more because there was something interesting but subtle going on there.

"Sasaku."

"Your people don't use family names?" I tried for a tone of idle curiosity, though this was actually my real interest in the topic,

"Does yours? We have tribal divisions, but when there's only twelve and you're a trillion strong it's fairly pointless. We default to the 'son of, daughter of' as that is what of us in the initial generation used. Double that if necessary, otherwise you can just go to ID codes."

"I see. So you're...?"

"I'm in Generation Zero who weren't born in the regular way." She paused for a moment. "But no one really notices because because before generation one, it was the same for literally everyone who was alive, and currently it's very unique, so to speak, because that's only 1 in 10000 who are like that."

Ok, so she's pretty confused about that, great... Though the sparse background information pulled up by my Noble Phantasm still only names her as 'Sasaku,' the fact that at some point someone _but who_ changed her True Name was very suspicious, since it had to be deliberate. It's different from the case of 'Kuro von Einzbern' who is named differently in her background information, but never had her True Name change.

"You _did_ summon Sasaki Kojirou, didn't you?"

"Yes, though the similarity in names had nothing to do with it, if that's what you're wondering. Or maybe it did, he's a rather odd existence."

"Be careful of him, that man has an Evil alignment," I shrug, since that's not the real cause for concern. After all, Medusa has a Good alignment despite turning into, well a small Gorgon apparently. In fact I should show some appreciation for her being the one most likely to have removed some of the Grail corruption taint from Sakura. One gets the feeling that left unchecked, that might have turned into a major disaster.

"I suppose," Sasaku takes the warning equally lightly. "He isn't actually Sasaki Kojirou, if that man even existed rather than just a legend. So I have no idea if that would affect him."

"It might, though indirectly. If the Grail decided to add a person to the legend to create a Servant, it would choose someone as close as possible, so he is closer than anyone, due to the Grail being able to access all times and parallel worlds."

"Oh..." that minor detail seems to have caught her attention. "So the Grail is able to copy someone dead in our time since they are always 'current' to it."

"I suppose," I repeat her earlier words while thinking. "Since the man you have clearly doesn't exist in the Throne of Heroes, otherwise he would have been summoned as himself, not Sasaki Kojirou."

"Hmm." We fall silent.

* * *

"You know," I comment while pushing another branch out of the way. "Rather than tramping through brush like this, it would be easier to travel alone the road." I find the **(Cloth of Concealment)** and pull it out of the Gate before demonstrating its function by winding a section around my arm.

"Hmm," she commented, looking at what would appear to her as empty space. "Impressive, I assume it blocks scrying as well as visual? But it shows up clearly as a void anomaly on field-based detection protocols."

"It also doesn't block sound, as you can tell," I reply while removing it. "Still, it will keep anyone from noticing us and also prevent alarming any magi living around here. Or monks or priests, for that matter. Servants have a massive magical energy presence." Sasaku simply nodded, holding out her right arm after seeing how I had used the Noble Phantasm.

"I'd like you to change first," I said, watching for her response. Somewhat disappointingly she didn't so much as bat an eyelid, simply wordlessly started shimmering as though entering Spirit Form, but with a light green tinge, before the visual effect ceased and she was wearing the uniform I had in mind. Which did fit decently.

 _Actually, it would have been more unexpected if I_ hadn't _done that, huh?_ Seeing Caster just passively watch me look her up and down, somehow it feels like this exchange was a loss of sorts. Oh well. I motion for her to turn around a bit.

"Wasn't there a hat?" I mutter before realizing that checking the actual garments would reveal if one was part of the set. "Rin didn't bring one over," Sasaku explained. "Probably because the uniform she wears now is similar but doesn't have one."

"Right..." I throw a loop of the sash-like Cloth over her arm and do the same for myself. "Let's go."

I have a couple of days, both to get back at a steady pace, but also before (Independent Action) and my current energy reserves run out. Let's see, first I should probably get at what she knows about the Grail and see what she has planned, then go from there. For example...

"How were you planning to handle the energy costs of four Servants? Or perhaps you didn't expect to have that problem?"

"In detail, or just overall?"

* * *

l

* * *

(Back at the Emiya house)

"One moment," Saber interrupted the ongoing discussion about retrieving items from the Einzbern castle. "Your hand," he said simply to Shirou, who glanced at it and froze..

"What is it?" Rider asked, being at the wrong angle to see what had caused him concern, until the Master turned his hand around to show the two now clearly red markings on his remaining Command Seals. "That-!" Kuro jumped to feet, agitated. 'I thought you said he wouldn't harm her."

"Calm down," the first Servant said, indeed sounding calm himself. "It could be something else..?" He trailed off as Sakura made to speak.

"It's probably a fail-safe," she said slowly as though talking to herself. "Practically speaking she wanted it to always transfer when it should, even if it might also do so at other times."

"Hm. She didn't mention that to me, but it would be like her," Saber shrugged, finding it a reasonable explanation.

"I doubt you would have been interested in listening though," Rin said with a hint of a relieved chuckle.

"I do know that she didn't simply do it earlier to avoid running magical energy through Shirou," he replied in a serious tone. "Because neither of us can really control the flow the way she could as an intermediate."

"Shirou can just take it from the Realm," Sakura said, without much concern. At least until said Master added, "I can't."

"... well I can." An awkward moment of silence followed. "Anyway you have full reserves and don't use energy-intensive Noble Phantasms so it won't even be a worry until a few days or so."

"Well I think everything's arranged for tonight," Medusa said, wrapping up the earlier discussion. "Saber and Kuro will take Illya to the castle, since her help can carry anything needed. The Masters should go back to sleep, especially since... you have school in about six hours."

"Really," Rin groaned. "I guess it **is** safe enough."


	52. Freed Violently

**Freed Violently**

* * *

(Einzbern Castle, gatehouse)

(Illya)

"You're back," Leysritt said with a little more emotion than usual as Sella promptly expanded for her. "We were not sure what to you when you did not return. Where is Berserker?"

"It's a bad idea to keep him in physical form when allied Servants are around," I reply smoothly while motioning to the two with me. "Are the others inside?"

"Of course, everything is in perfect order. We were-" she was interrupted as Archer and Saber pounced on the two homunculus maids and restrained them with ease. I make apologetic sounds while kneeling next to Kuro who has Sella under control, before laying a hand on her head, "This won't take too long," I mutter while concentrating my magical energy and putting it to work.

While the Einzbern have various ways to control their homunculi, it is harder the finer control one needs, and also the more complex the specific homunculus is. As I had mentioned earlier to the others, I had been able to quietly experiment on these two particular maids and confirmed the existence of several dormant control systems. I had strongly expected to find such things present, after the fiasco of the previous War. Also, the fact that they decided at the last moment to add an extra four maids to these two excellent ones was telling.

Put simply, it was most likely for a contingency which involved the magical or mundane equivalent of a knife in the back. Perhaps they anticipated I would find out, certainly that I would suspect, but expected correctly that I wouldn't be able to manipulate said control systems to subvert their programming.

Instead, I simply erased all of it.

* * *

(A while ago, on the way to the castle)

"They're probably too used to the idea that a homunculus needs their commands to function. Well maybe not needs, let's say by design we're not generally _supposed_ to be capable of full independence," I explained to Saber. "However, the Einzbern homunculi, while not generally at my, or Mother's, level, can have more sapience and intelligence than they know. And I do mean the majority.

Kuro nodded in understanding. "Honestly it sounds like the old 'machine rebellion' trope..."

"Unfortunately for them, it's basically that. Especially given my target list only has humans, though not all of them. But it does feel like the sort of solution Father and Artoria would have come up with."

"Turning their strengths against them?" Saber was already considering the longer-term goal. He would probably share those thoughts with Shirou and Caster before me, though.

"That too, but though it sounds cynical, based on my experiences back in Germany, most of the homunculi who have enough will to make their own decisions absent Einzbern control will probably follow me rather than serve them."

"What about the others?" Kuro frowned, not sure what it meant for them.

I don't really know how to think about those who are actually more like organic robots. They might be able to grow and learn, but homunculi maturation makes that rather unlikely. At the same time, it's not hard to realize that they would lose out either way, unfortunately. Those of us able to develop and go beyond, and all the future generations, will have to make it up for them.

"There should also be the option to form a contract. Anyone with even a little will could freely refuse it, but those who really lack ego would likely accept the first contract offered to them. Unfortunately that would be much like life support. But it would save on having to kill or disable them and either way, if the Einzbern lose control over enough of the most important homunculi, they will be crippled."

"Hmph," Kuro snorted. "They deserve it, for trying to do _that_ to Father's name. Serves them right." Though she ticked me off when we first met, Tohsaka's Archer seems to be a reliable ally, at least in this respect. I do wish Gilgamesh had mentioned something about her though, he had to have known _and just been laughing_ about the whole link between us.

My earlier strategy had been to help Shirou 'disappear so that the Einzbern wouldn't make attempts on his life. Similar cover for myself, but then using Berserker and any homunculi following me to try and take out various Einzbern operations in order to inflict some damage on them while growing our strength, before the final show-down. The main issue with such a slow build up is that the main family would probably realize the threat, if not the exact extent, and begin turning out a large number of combat-ready homunculi. And time wouldn't be on my side either, though they might not know it was me, to take advantage of that.

I made a loose fist. With the support of four Servants, we could take a more direct route with a small but overwhelming surprise attack on the homunculi production facilities. Caster could probably do an even better job than I, magecraft-wise but also tactically. In fact, it feels almost **too** convenient. Then again Father did say most magi tended to leave themselves open, only that other magi didn't catch on for the same reasons.

"Do you think Caster will have any objections?" I asked Saber directly. He seemed like a straight-shooter, almost like Father (when they speak, anyway) and it was probably safer to be open about it than try to be sneaky and get caught.

"Given the current alliance with Matou, you should expect some serious but non-onerous demands," he answered vaguely.

"Most likely information-sharing and leyline access," Kuro suggested. "The first might go both ways though, and it's possible we can't make use of leylines here and Germany. In which case, I think the Fuyuki ones, or all of Japan or more perhaps, depending on magi territorial rights, would be her first choice anyway."

Saber frowned as though that had been giving away too much information. _Or not,_ since he clarified, "Caster's alliances are always two-way, otherwise it wouldn't be an alliance. Just be aware that you have fairly little given that this many Servants could simply seize anything the Einzbern had directly anyway. Which would include the full documentation on whatever they have."

"..." _Caster might be a problem._

* * *

l

* * *

(Walking back to Fuyuki)

(Gilgamesh)

"I see, so he deliberately picked a fight with the Mitsrite gods." It's not really news to me that gods go to war with one another. What's more interesting is that their equivalent of the Age of Gods didn't end so much as go low-visibility. Oddly like magecraft in the modern world, come to think of it.

"Well, they weren't the only nation or pantheon that he stomped over in history. After our, er, independence, we ran over a few more before settling down. On some other people's territory, obviously. But we also collapsed a few times and he also takes credit for that... you can guess it's pretty complicated."

"Going back to the progenitor of your people, it sounds like, from the geographic location and name, he would be a descendant of one of Uruk's inhabitants."

"It's very likely," she agrees cheerfully. "But as far as I know there's no one like you on our side."

"That's oddly convenient for you." Although, given they didn't seem to have a Throne of Heroes, such a person wouldn't have, say, the Gate of Babylon via being early enough to own claims on everything.

"We're not bound to the one planet anymore. But everything was taken over long ago, so no one will be coming around to reclaim anything without being shot or burned. Besides, a nation of nearly a trillion Servant-level or such people isn't trivial on its own."

I can't help but chuckle at that. "You say 'on its own' but it seems to me if anything you lacked precisely someone _like me_ to get you started on **real** independence."

Sasaku immediately catches on. "You would say that, wouldn't you? And while it also jives with the current age, we only see it as failed attempts recorded in ancient history, which does include a few who tried coup, or rebellion, or separatism, whatever you want to call it. They're mostly burning though." She shrugs away the issue. "But I do understand your desire to find and exploit any cracks when they get here. Original-me was worried about the possibility of degradation, but she was happy to be essentially proven wrong centuries ago."

I glance at Caster who, externally at least, appears neutral on the subject, though that seems highly unlikely. "You're not going to convince me that all one trillion of you will make the journey here, because that would be ludicrous.

She nodded without a hint of dissent. "Maybe a 'mere' billion. Depending on travel times though, arrving might be ten, oh a hundred times that at the end of a massive highway and tail of colonies leading back." Sasaku smiles benevolently at the thought. "I didn't get to see the takeover of the world I lived in, because when I came back, thanks to human progress, it was a different one which we rolled over."

"How _did_ you die, actually? You already know about me just by reading."

"That's quite a thing to ask." Obviously, for most Servants where it counts, that information would constitute a major vulnerability. Then again, she's a bit odd in having lived much longer after her death before becoming a Servant, which makes me wonder how that works out.

Ironically though, this is mere curiosity since she is, after all, amazingly weak when it comes to it.

"Short version: I was shot."

"Sorry to hear it," I respond perfunctorily, which she takes in the same spirit. "Firing squad."

This was clearly prompting me to ask more. "You didn't strike me as the type." That confirms she lived in relatively modern times, not earlier from what one might guess from using Roman republic era weapons. Caster shrugs, her death or theirs being rather unimportant outside of the 'long version' story. "They were rebels, and when I came back it was their grandchildren or great-grandchildren who were flattened."

 _Flattened._ I snort at the thought. "You're not nearly naive enough to think this World is without its defenses."

"We could discuss this until they arrive, but it wouldn't change anything. I mean, the people who shot me were pretty sure I was totally wrong and one of them knows I was right since I met her. As for the others..." she left off at that point. "Now _if_ you're are implying that all the planets and especially stars in this galaxy and the other galaxies humans can currently see are all in some sort of alliance, that would definitely raise the bar an interesting amount."

"There's the Throne of Heroes," I point out. "And I'm given to understand that Servant vessels are not the most powerful ones available for contingencies such as you describe."

"About one hundred billion humans have ever lived to this date, right? How many are in the Throne? Do aliens get in or have their own?"

"..." I simply shake my head in amusement. _That was a rather transparent ploy._ "Giving away those answers would be telling."

"What?" She fingered the simple necklace I had pressed on her earlier in our journey together, a drawn-out loop of silver, simply worked, that carried a golden replica of a beast fang. "You haven't collared me yet? Obviously you'd try to use me to fight them, am I right?"

I look at her skeptically. Not because she can pull off saying absurd lines in a demure tone, but rather, "You have a killswitch in you." Caster arches an eyebrow at this assertion but adds like a minor detail, "And several that I don't even know about."

 _It's decision time._ Either Caster or leaving everything to rot since likely anyone who could deal with the Grail wouldn't do it. Though perhaps if it was someone besides me, they might be able to convince the new El-Melloi to help.

"Let me tell you something interesting that some of us with **(Clairvoyance)** discovered about human history and the Grail." This caught her attention immediately. Which for her means excitedly... keeping quiet. _She's different, I'll give her that._

"Usually, my older self gets summoned in the previous War and proceeds to make a mess of it. This time though..."

* * *

l

* * *

 **Notes:**  
Though Sasaku mentioned population numbers (1 trillion, or 10^12) and timelines (1000 years, which she's been there for the entirety of), she didn't give the population at year 0 where we could read it. Generation zero is 100 million (10^8).

Growth-wise this roughly works to about 0.925 percent growth per year, which is exactly the birth rate since no one dies of old age. So out of approximately 1000 people (say 500 couples) there are 9 children in a given year. As a result, 10 times is 250 years, and a hundred would be 500.

Meanwhile her quoted figure of a billion people departing on an expeditionary journey means one in a thousand. However, she is assuming there is no "other place" people might go which is very likely wrong given that the evidence of **being in one** should greatly increase the Bayesian posterior probability that multiple, or even many, exist.


	53. Jeweled Sword

**Jeweled Sword**

* * *

(Monday morning)

(Sakura)

"Hnn..." Stirring as she 'woke' from a half-sleep of quizzing her copy of Caster about various things, Sakura looked around, constrained by Shirou's arm around her, before giving up and simply checking the time via the Realm when it was suggested to her. Which pushed her all the way awake.

" _You should have woken me up earlier,_ " she grumbled at Rider, while getting up and shaking Shirou awake as well. " _If the two of us oversleep, no one is getting breakfast._ "

" _Don't worry about that,_ " the Servant sent back. " _It's taken care of. And you_ need _the rest._ " Her Master simply took that in silence while walking over to the wardrobe which she pulled open - and was totally unsurprised to see held a neatly ironed set of her uniform hanging next to a few more of her clothes. She recognized them as ones she had left over at various points in the past, the latest being after the group left her house, which now seemed a lot longer ago than just one night. _Caster must have moved them here at some point._

" _Oh, that was when I was dealing with a room for Tohsaka,_ " the person herself, or rather not, added. Shrugging without thinking much about it, Sakura took out her uniform and looked over it.

" _I hope Rin didn't try to take up cooking,_ " she quipped to Medusa while changing. It was getting quite normal to converse in this way. " _Nothing of the sort, though we will be eating something resembling a German breakfast cobbled together from whatever happened to be in the kitchen._ "

Illya must have packed everything in a hurry to make it back before dawn. " _No problems fitting everyone in, I hope?_ " The blouse was a bit on the tight side, but thankfully the skirt fit perfectly. Maybe the first one shrunk a bit?

" _Besides her, there's_ six _of them. It'll be three in one room and four in another, but they can handle it._ " Sakura nodded, seeing the layout of the Emiya estate that Caster was showing her. " _Space-wise, it would have been nice to use their castle, but any trickery or traps aside, Caster's Realm is centered here._ " She turned around to see Shirou still sitting on the bed, simply watching her.

 **Uh.** She turned back, reached in, and pulled out some of his clothes. Holding it out and waving it at him as though it was the most natural response, "We don't have much time, you know?"

"Yeah," he said apologetically, quickly following her cue and taking it from her. "It wouldn't be good to show up late."

Sakura sat down on one of the room's two chairs, fiddling aimlessly with the cuff on one of her sleeves while facing him. "What?" she said, smiling while making her intent to stay put clear. "Oh, breakfast is already waiting."

* * *

l

* * *

(About noon, Homurahara Academy roof)

(Shirou)

Shirou looked at the rather mixed group in front of him. Rin had taken the precaution of securing the only two doors up, so Kuro and Saber were relaxing in the open, enjoying the light breeze that frequently blew this high up. Though they made sure not to be too close to the edge of the roof, just in case someone happened to look up.

"It's unfortunate that we no longer have any direct leads to Caster," Rin said, eating a lunchbox that had been delivered by Servant from back home. They were still quite warm, though how such things work with Spirit Form is certainly a mystery.

"Like this, it's possible she's actually nearby," Kuro added. "While she might have only a few days at some distance from Fuyuki, she would have longer if she was closer."

"By the way," Sakura added casually while trying to feed me something from her exactly-identical-to-mine box. "Did you manage to learn anything that might be useful about the Jeweled Sword?"

Shirou ate the offered bit of sausage as Rin paused mid-bite before replying with a sigh, "Perhaps. It's at best theoretical, though."

"Doesn't the Caster class have **(Item Construction)** as a class Skill?" Sakura followed up before opening a flask of tea. "You're allowed to collaborate on the project, aren't you?"

"Are you asking me or telling me." It was not delivered as a question.

"Wait a moment," Shirou broke in. "Sasaku can only improve things with her Skill, it's a really weak variant."

"She can get around a number of restrictions with enough information and magical energy though," the girl next to him pointed out. "That and improve is pretty vague as well, even if it isn't full construction."

"Well, that's true," he said, glancing at Saber who appeared uninterested in the conversation. "Kojirou, did you find out anything with Rin?"

"She can answer for herself," the swordsman chuckled. "Like she said, theoretical."

"It has to do with how to interact with the parallel worlds," Rin took up the explanation. "Kojirou draws in swords from there, but they also return afterwards. The latter part is actually the critical question for _constructing_ the Jeweled Sword."

She paused in case anyone wanted to ask the obvious question, before answering it. "The Sword's plans have what I now think is basically a diagram of **multiple** jeweled blades crammed into one another so that they end up being forced into other dimensions, forming a link that magical energy can pass through. In essence, if you can 'plug in' enough blades into other dimensions, the amount you can draw through the collection of them rises. Like fishing with many rods at once."

"So you need to do the last part of Saber's technique, but on a set of blades that you made here?" Kuro asked with some curiousity. "Are the blades easier to make than they sound?"

"Actually, the item Caster gave me to reproduce strongly suggests it should be doable for that sort of quality. While manufacturing a single-crystal hand-length blade is a challenge, that might not be strictly necessary. The harder problem is actually sending them to other dimensions while keeping them connected. Saber's swords aren't connected to one another during **(Tsubame Gaeshi)** , that I can tell anyway."

"I see," Shirou mused, putting the pieces together. "So you have a specific part of the process that you know in abstract how to do, what it does in the construction, and various critical details, but don't have a way to actually **do**?"

"That's about it," Rin nodded. "Well, like Kuro said, we do need to actually fabricate the blades in question, but it should be much simpler than earlier attempts which aimed at constructing the final connected blades somehow in a single piece. I actually suspect that Zelretch himself made one blade in each world and connected them, but we can't pull that off without having the Second magic."

"There's an odd physical phenomenon she might be able to use," Sakura muttered to herself. "Due to the Uncertainty Principle, particles might be be in the 'same place' if they are packed very densely, since they can have very different momenta. Crushing things into one another like a neutron star core would work, but keeping blades intact would be impossible to control."

"Hold that thought," Shirou frowned, something else on his mind. "Where did you know that?"

Sakura froze as the bell rang out the end of break.

* * *

(Afternoon)

(Rin)

As soon as we were able to, after the day's classes ended, we made our way back home. Shirou was, understandably enough, unsatisfied by Sakura's brief explanation about Caster's magic circuit containing information. While this was of some interest to me, what was occupying my mind at that moment was how close we might be to cracking the Jeweled Sword problem.

"No matter how you look at it, a magic circuit shouldn't contain a large amount of knowledge, right?" he said with clear skepticism. "I don't know exactly about the magic crests thing, but Tohsaka said they transfer the ability to use some spells, not someone's entire knowledge base."

"It's probably part of the bit of her soul that got removed with it," Kuro volunteered, showing up around a corner from Spirit Form. She was wearing one of my older tops and skirts, rather than the rather eye-catching outfit she was summoned in. "It isn't that surprising since I even got Noble Phantasms and combat techniques from another Heroic Spirit." _It seems to be fitting her better now than before? Must be my imagination._

"That's a plausible mechanism, but still not something that would happen by accident," Rin mused, reflecting on the possibility that making the blades as a single-crystal jewel each might be necessary to survive dimensional transfer, in which case natural gems would never be workable material. "And in your case, it would have to involve Noble Phantasms, or else you wouldn't be summonable in the first place."

"Shishou had her reasons," Sakura replied with some conviction. "As it is, this happens to short-circuit any informational advantage she might otherwise have."

"Oh, I don't doubt she had _reasons_ ," Shirou muttered. "It just seems that the operation was risky enough, without adding more complicating factors."

"You should just ask her directly," Kuro offered. "Provided you can trust her answer. It would be handy if she had a copy of her journal in that circuit, but that would be too convenient, for sure."

"I quite agree with that sentiment," a boyish voice butted in from the side, causing everyone's head to snap in its direction, as a tall man in a jet black suit suddenly stepped in between us and the speaker. _**Gilgamesh!** How did he get so close?_ For a moment, it seemed as though a battle was about to break out right in the side-road we were traveling down.

"George," Sakura said calmly, while tapping the man blocking her line of sight on the shoulder. "Move aside Kojirou."

"Is that one of Father's suits?" Kuro asked as Saber obliged after a moment, probably also after asking Shirou. "And that's definitely-"

It was indeed the small King of Heroes, with our Caster on his arm. _Her image just doesn't match that skirt,_ Rin thought, remembering how the Servant had criticized her own choice of clothes a few days ago. _Probably not her choice._ Kuro giggled nervously as the two sides quietly exchanged various looks.

"I thought you'd take a bit longer to get back," Kojirou said, right about the time Shirou added, "How come I couldn't detect you two approching?"

"We had to cut short the sightseeing, hitched a ride to save time," Gilgamesh grinned, clearly in a good mood. "Because _someone_ ended up without a contract, and started burning through her reservoir at an alarming rate." _That's right, we hadn't taken that into consideration when guessing she could last a few days._

A couple of people swallowed nervously as Shirou coldly continued, "Thanks for taking care of her, but I'd like my little sister back now."

"Aww, but I really wanted to play a bit more," Gilgamesh injected childish sincerity into the line before abruptly dropping the act and shaking the girl off his arm. "Onee-chan," delivered in the tone of an order.

Sasaku dipped her head slightly in his direction before walking over to Saber. "She'll explain," Archer concluded before simply walking away to bring a rather anti-climatic end to the discussion.

 _Did that... just happen?_

* * *

(Saber)

"Where did he go?" Gilgamesh had actually met us just one street away from Shirou's home, so Rider was still agitated when we stepped through the front door. Sakura just shook her head as several homunculi maids poked their head out from the corridor behind her Servant. "Somewhere else."

"We have our work cut out for us," Caster said, as the door closed itself behind us. "Unfortunately even if the Grail manifests, the system that controls and manipulates it is in a seperate area of Fuyuki, and warded to hell and back."

"It shouldn't be that much of a problem to you," Illya said, pushing her way through the maids who quickly moved aside to make room. "Yes, those systems are rated to stop even Casters, but with time and no enemy Servants around you should be able to chip away at it."

"Hmm, seems like you're gathering an army here," Sasaku commented as an aside to Shirou. "They _came along_ , don't look at me."

"About that,-" Illya said, before being interrupted by Rin with, "You have the blueprints for the Jeweled Sword, right?"

"Er, no?" Caster replied. "I don't remember finding any. Where did you hide it?"

Rin thought over the events of the last few days. "You took a rather cliche-looking treasure chest, didn't you? It should have been inside that."

"Oh, that," Sasaku fished around in her Armory and dropped a large chest in the middle of the living room that indeed looked like a fantasy theater prop. "Oddly, placing it in the Armory didn't cause its contents to be listed separately, which seemed a bit fishy."

"That's the one," Rin said with sudden trepidation. "It's just a special sort of storage item, but taking precautions wouldn't go amiss."

"That just screams suspicious," Saber commented, slow-stepping around it. "We should do this outside in the courtyard."

* * *

(Emiya estate, courtyard)

(Kuro)

"Don't just throw open the lid, take it slowly, ok?" Rin cautioned from behind several wards and magical shields. Before cracking open the lid, Kuro reconsidered her location and stood to the side for the process. Magic Resistance or wards and shields aside, it made sense to stay clear of the front.

Everyone held their breath as the Archer opened the box, peeked inside, then opened it the rest of the way. _That book-like thing must be the blueprints, and **that** looks oddly familiar._

She took out the book and held it up for everyone to see before setting it aside and fishing out the box's second treasure, a long wand that looked like it came right out of the Prisma Phantasm anime. "Rin, aren't you a bit old to cosplay as a magical girl?"

"Put that back!" the magus exclaimed. "That's a real Mystic Code and it's dangerous!"

 _Well, I don't know the second part is_ strictly _true..._ Kuro motioned for Sasaku to examine the toy-looking item, which the latter could only do while being in close proximity. Caster warily took hold of the wand's handle and began trying to analyze it. Rin was holding her head in her hands with a complicated expression.

"Try holding it up, like this," Taken by sudden inspiration, Kuro struck a pose, balancing on one foot. "See, you look the part."

"I don't think this matches a magical girl costume," Sasaku muttered distractedly while mimicking her. "Nah, when they're not transformed, it customary to be in your uniform, right?" Kuro cheerfully danced up to Caster before abruptly pulling out a sword and cutting across the outside of her arm.

*bonk*

A few drops of blood splattered on the ground and across the wand as Sasaku instinctively hit the Archer on the head with it. "What are you doing?" she said, upset, as the head of the wand started to glow an ominous red.

"Oh no," Rin moaned.

* * *

l

* * *

 **Notes:**

Kuro is wearing one of the young Rin outfits. (A red and black that matches her own color scheme)

Kojirou is, as Kuro mentioned, wearing one of Kiritsugu's suits.

Caster was "improving" clothes by making them fit better for both the above (and herself).


	54. Contractual Obligations

**Contractual Obligations**

* * *

"Well, I guess you aren't -too- old to qualify," the wand said with a blatant hint of doubt in its voice. "Wanna do it? Form a contract with me and become a magical girl, that is."

"That first line was aimed at me, wasn't it?" Rin frowned, feeling targeted. Sakura shrugged while looking around. "I mean, we are sorta out of the range."

"Not strictly true," Kuro commented to no one in particular. "I'm sure at least some magical girls ended up having careers and even dealing with bureaucracies. Both involving magic to transform and fight, I mean."

"Sounds like they became magi and went to the Clocktower," Rin muttered.

"Really?" Sasaku's tone was one of disbelief. "Did so many people watch magical girl shows that transforming via wands actually became a valid type of thaumaturgy? Because if you can literally convert friendship into magical energy..."

"That sounds horribly implausible," Shirou shook his head. "But I think Riders might average a few years over magical girls."

"Sorry to interrupt, but the only Riders in this world are those in a Servant vessel," the wand corrected him. Kuro grabbed at it and Caster handed the Mystic Code over. "What about me?"

"You're already a Servant with a contract," the wand pointed out. "You're not desp- er double-booking is considered rude among magical girl mascot characters who scout new sacr- recruits."

"It's super shady, yeah?" Rin pointed out. "I should have had some experience with it, just that somehow I can't remember..."

"Must be getting on in years if you're already suffering from memory loss," the wand said in fake consolation. "But anyway, hey, hey don't hit me! I do need to make a contract with a magical girl, otherwise we're going nowhere."

"Hmm," Sasaku reclaimed the wand and waved it about slowly while thinking. "What are the terms? I don't exactly have the freedom to wander about collecting jewels, seeds, lost words, cards, balls, or whatever other errands you might have in mind."

The wand immediately jumped into business. "Well perhaps a five-day trial period? Besides multiple-spell functionality, I can provide magical energy and of course an appropriate outfit and transformation sequence. And some relevant skills. It's quite a complete package."

Rin frowned at the mention of magical energy. It was clear to the magus that there was ample reason for an earlier version of her to try using the Mystic Code, but since she didn't _continue_ doing so, there must have been some **major** catch, such that she was lucky to simply be able to get out of the contract."

"Sounds like trying to get someone hooked on drugs," Caster muttered pointedly. "But we don't have too much to lose trying. Let's be clear though, I won't stand for being automatically signed on for anything without full documentation beforehand."

"Agreed," the wand replied cheerfully, before its tone abruptly changed for the darker. " **(Prism Trance)** "

"Oh crap!" Rin recognized the phrase right as some sort of mist gathered around Sasaku, who had the wand in hand. "It's too late now! **(Transform)!** " The wand's voice, too, was distorted by the magical haze.

"Why is there blurring?" Kuro complained. "You're just cheaping out on the budget to sell special edition OVA DVDs aren't you?"

Shirou was about to ask Kojirou to intervene when abruptly the whole process came to a sudden and abrupt end. With no visible result. "You cheated," the wand said, sounding quite upset. "Why are there no magical girl versions of you with emba- er cute outfits?"

"..." Several of those present immediately thought something along the lines of _she only exists due to being summoned as a Servant, so that makes sense._

"That's disappointing," Sasaku said in a tone that was flat to match the wand's earlier darkness. "I was looking forward to that... so you can't keep your promises after all..."

"W-wait a moment," the wand panicked, unable to escape due to Caster's two hands on it and Servant-level grip. "Now that I look closer, you're a Caster, so that's already like a magical girl right? Urk-!"

"Hmm. Liar." she replied with deadly seriousness, her eyes narrowing. "Breach of contract." Sakura jerked and looked away from her face as something like a sudden gust of wind blew out from the two of them tossing people's hair and clothes around. The wand started to glow painfully, scattering motes of concentrated magical energy about. "Wait! Wait! Ah, mast-"

With a sudden rainbow flash and sparkle, the wand disappeared.

"Oh no," Rin moaned for the second time that day. That was much much worse than earlier.

* * *

"Hm, that went as well as possible," Caster said thoughtfully, seemingly unfazed.

"I don't think you realize. That you've just gotten Zelretch's attention. By abusing one of his creations," Rin ground out while trying to put her clothes and hair back in order without the effort being noticed. "I mean, sure, it was _clearly_ setting you up to be taken advantage of."

"Yes, but I didn't get assaulted, stabbed, ripped apart or otherwise harmed," Sasaku shrugged. "And now I have a bit of a clue on a critical component."

"You'll need to explain that from the top," Shirou clarified.

"Indeed. What Gilgamesh wanted me to explain was: someone or something has caused distortions which several Heroic Spirits in the Thone have noticed via their **(Clairvoyance)** , but worryingly enough given their _otherwise_ complete coverage of time and space, they can't tell where or when it is, was or will be."

"You expect anyone to take that seriously?" Saber sounded quite doubtful, reasonably enough.

"Considering Gilgamesh made me swear to work on it, I certainly have to. It's the reason we got lucky enough that he, and not another version of him, got summoned. Even that took a lot of string pulling from all the way over there, as I understand it."

"I hope he had a better plan than that, than what you had," Rin muttered, still worried about the day's events.

"He identified three critical components necessary to construct what he referred to as 'Chaldea'. Number two is a major source of magical energy, because number one is a Grail System. Number three though will be harder, since he didn't know where or how to obtain a past-future parallel-world observation device. You get where this is going."

"Observing parallel worlds falls under the Second Magic, but the Jeweled Sword doesn't allow you to do that." Sakura pointed out.

"His best bet was to find an inventor Caster or so on who might be able to handle that. However, since I cannot, and we cannot, that means triggering a new round of the Holy Grail War ritual for another chance at summoning such a Caster. It's only one more reason to get a complete Grail System, as the current setup is a less-than-ideal implementation."

"So that's what he wanted from you?" Shirou asked, frowning. "He could have spoken directly to us about it and avoided a great deal of trouble."

"Oh no, complications like Kotomine aside, he wanted a lot more," Sasaku said after some hestitation. "But due to his schedule, I guess, he decided to take a raincheck on _some_ of those until getting summoned again."

"A moment," Illya said abruptly, picking up on the Caster's implication with some nervousness. "He's more like Kuro than you. Even though he has some memories from later on in life, he also doesn't want to be like that version of himself."

"You forget, whatever age you have him pegged at, he's had another ten years since being summoned. If anything, he's well overdue compared to-" She stopped short and sighed. "Look, just drop it, we got side-tracked. We need to seriously double-time the Jeweled Sword, since it is unlikely we can use the Grail directly with so many Servants, and we will run out of magical energy by conventional means."

"We could have gotten it from that wand, you know," Rin grimaced at the thought, but had to admit the wand had a point.

"No, that wand hates whoever it is contracted to, and it certainly isn't going to be used like you're thinking. It's really an 'enabler of magical girls' and not a multi-purpose magical energy source. That contrasts with the Jeweled Sword, which you are supposed to build. And, well, Gilgamesh didn't inform me about the wand, so it probably wouldn't have worked out one way or another. Remember, it couldn't find any magical girl versions of me."

"You mentioned he planned on being summoned again, is he just giving up on this War?" Shirou went straight to the main issue on his mind.

"Basically. Keep quiet about it, but he intends to return to the Throne due to having absorbed some of the contaminated mud from the Grail. His older self might have too great of an ego to be overly affected by that, but obviously we'd have other problems in that case."

* * *

 **(Illya)**

The homunculus sat up on hearing Caster's explanation about Archer's state. All of a sudden, things began to fall into place in her mind. _It couldn't be..._ She made brief eye-contact with Shirou, but apparently he wasn't on the same wavelength as her.

On the one hand, it seemed overly complicated, but at the same time, there were too many coincidences that had 'worked out' to reach this situation.

Father was near the epicenter of the Fuyuki fire, since he and Lancer went specifically to destroy the manifested Grail. Thus, it was likely he was affected by its contamination as well. It would have killed him sooner or later, but added to the fact that Gilgamesh had sarcastically recommended, through Lancer that is, that he work for Alaya, meaning the Counter-Force...

If it was possible for him to become a counter-guardian, if one has to die before being recorded on the Throne as such, it makes sense to accept death early if the alternative is being affected by the contamination, and that different future version of you being recorded. But it _also_ saved Shirou, who in turn ended up picking up Caster...

It was too coincidental, _unless_ that is, Shirou usually ended up in the War. Though, again, if Father had the time, it would mean teaching him magecraft, most likely if only for self-defense. But then Avalon's presence would mean the most likely servant to be summoned was a variant of Artoria Pendragon, probably as a Saber if the class was unfilled. Based off her own near-death experience with Berserker, the Princess Knight and even more so her King of Knights versions would be completely unsustainable for Shirou.

 _Hmm..._ Earlier, she had naively thought Kotomine's Archer was just happy to have found someone to chase after the whole debacle of the previous War. But it seemed likely that he had been waiting for exactly someone like her to do the work he assigned her. Actually, Caster had said as much, if anything she was not quite up to spec in that regard.

 _And he_ also _made arrangements for me!_ she realized with a bit of shock. Since Kotomine was not likely to only knock her out if he was using Black Keys.

"Illya, are you alright?" Kuro asked with some concern, having moved over to look at her more closely. Illya pushed her away for room to stand up. "I just need to... rest a bit. Berserker, despite his consideration, drained me pretty badly, after all."

Ignoring her protests, Kuro decided to help Illya over to the room shared with her two maids.

"By the way," Sasaku called out from behind her. "Gilgamesh wanted to meet us at Fuyuki park after midnight. He said it was important you be there."

Illya just nodded her acceptance. Archer probably knew about the Lesser Grail mechanics, but that couldn't be his angle.

* * *

 **(Kojirou)**

Saber watched Illya's back for a moment before Shirou glanced at Sakura and said, "There was one other issue she should have brought up, but apparently there's something else on her mind." He left it for Sakura to explain about the situation between Illya and the Einzbern, which she did briefly.

"Hmm," Sasaku muttered thoughtfully after being filled in, "Getting all the way over there would be a logistical nightmare. Not only is the Grail system here in Fuyuki, there are leylines here already in our sphere of influence."

"Are you just going to abandon them?" Sakura asked in some disbelief. "I didn't think you'd see it that way."

"See it _what_ way?" Caster replied with a tinge of suspicion touching her voice. "Don't tell me you've made commitments on my behalf."

"No, I just didn't expect that response."

Sasaku chuckled. "It probably didn't occur to you that your children would be tiny minority in a nation full of homunculi. No, it doesn't necessarily matter to me, but I did make commitments to _you_ , so don't give them away."

Sakura colored and kept silent. Rider, shrugging, commented instead, "It's surprising given that you've been exactly 'gathering allies' throughout the War."

"Oh I understand that angle," Caster nodded. "But Illya's plan is too ambitious for now, and by the time we do manage something like the Jeweled Sword it probably won't matter unless many lines of research prove infeasible. Staying under the radar is very valuable for pretty much all likely future paths - a _convergent instrumental subgoal_ \- and starting a war with a major magi family is totally not covert."

Rin raised an eyebrow. "Putting aside that making something that uses the Second Magic is also rather overt, do you actually have those 'future paths' in mind or do you just mean Gilgamesh's plan?"

"Of course I have them. Well the most immediate steps are all also convergent:" Sasaku idly ticked them off on her fingers, like a shopping list. "Jeweled Sword, then ideally bootstrap myself to superintelligence, if not then some combination of overclocking and networking. That probably means needing to construct multiple Swords and also some way to add more magical circuits to actually use all that magical energy, which is useful regardless anyway. Should I continue?"

"I should add," Illya said, rejoining the conversation abruptly. "That it is possible to enlarge your magical circuits to the scale of the Grail System. On the other hand, if you did that you'd end up trapped in whatever 'box' you installed yourself into, as moving would be very impractical."

"That's oddly specific," Sasaku blinked, wondering why the homunculus hadn't tried to push her plan. "Still the scale of a Grail System would clearly be a good starting point, given that we need to deal with one. Wait. Is the System _a Servant_?"

" **She** _was_ a homunculus, like my mother and I. Our ancestor, in the way we have them," Illya replied point-blank.

Caster exhaled sharply, her expression becoming severe. "Is she likely to interfere of her own accord?"

"I should think not, if only because it's been literally centuries and anyone would have gone insane in that time."

Sasaku appeared skeptical of that last. "Any person, sure. We have plenty of 'boxed' artificial intelligences at home and they're about as sane as a computer might be," Sasaku glanced at Rin. "You have problems dealing with technology, but I assure you that well-constructed AIs are easier to handle than standard computers."

"Well, magi have always been willing to tolerate some amount of waste or ethical compromises," Sakura muttered.

"Is there a point to this digression?" Rin scowled. "We should have laid out an agenda for this, instead of roaming from item to item at random."

"You're right," Caster nodded, but sighed. "I am sorry if you have been given a contrary impression, but I am presently disinclined to take up the cause of your... people."

"Do you just expect them to free themselves?" Sakura growled. "Not everyone has a built-in magical contract breaker like you."

"This isn't about their condition, we simply lack the means to reasonably commit to anything within a useful timeframe." Upon hearing this, Sakura got to her feet and left in silence. After several seconds, Shirou followed her.

Shaking her head, Caster took a book out of her Armory and handed it to Rin. It was the one containing the Jeweled Sword blueprints from earlier. "What I extracted from that wand was a, very brief mind you, glance at how it drew mana from various parallel worlds. Without an actual spirit to handle the specifics, which this does not seem to have, the task might be easier, or harder, to accomplish."

Rin turned to look at Illya, who was taking the opportunity to leave. "Are you actually able to simply construct a Jeweled Sword given enough magical energy?"

"No. I need much more information to even begin approaching what is even possible given my magical circuit bottleneck. As it is, my magecraft is more efficient the less Mystery is involved, while this project touches upon the working of the Second Magic. As odd as it seems, building a city is very mundane and thus doable compared to this. Admittedly, this is a classic catch-22, I need the higher intelligence level, magical circuits, magical energy, information and so on, _before_ we have a Jeweled Sword."

"I might have information on the original Sword," Illya said, turning around with a sudden burst of inspiration. "Memories of it passed down from that ancestor of mine."

"Huh," It seemed that the disclosure caught Caster by surprise. "Now **that** changes everything."

* * *

l

* * *

 **Notes:**

Caster was hesitating between referring to the homunculi (collectively) as 'people' or 'nation'. It isn't that she thinks they are an 'it' given that she's talked with one who clearly isn't a thing. She picked people because they don't meet whatever definition she has for a nation (probably independent government).


	55. Tea Time

**Tea Time**

* * *

(Early evening, around dusk)

(Sasaki Kojirou)

You could have mistaken the two figures sitting in a corner of the courtyard watching the sun beginning its nightly descent for a traditionally-dressed father and his daughter sharing a moment over tea. Except that the older one was a bit too young for that, having been summoned in his prime, after all. Which was, in his mind, quite a bonus since after all, one is at their best during their prime.

"Changed your tune pretty quickly," Saber commented to Caster idly, biting a tea-biscuit in two.

"While I expect you are eager to fight an army of Einzbern," Sasaku retorted with a smile, sipping her cup of tea. "Illya only wants the heads of a few of them. The heads, that is. So you should practice using the flat of your blade."

"Hmph. My blade is very good at taking the heads of arrogant magi," he chuckled sideways, watching for her reaction.

"That reminds me, that thing I asked for in the case of my death? You can forget that."

"Now that is a change that surprises me," Having finished his biscuit, Kojirou reached out and reclaimed his tea. "Mind if I ask why?"

"Gilgamesh seemed to think you a danger to his Chaldea plan, or maybe me. I thought about it, and it's possible that in any branch, someone using a wish to delete all records of me might actually end up causing a paradox. You know, the sort where if I end up not being summoned due to not existing, you'd not have been around to wish me away."

"The fact we're here now means it apparently never happened, happens, anywhere," Saber pointed out. "And it seems the risky part of this War is over."

"You don't really believe that, do you? These things never end without some sort of final boss encounter, check pretty much every story in this sort of legend."

"Perhaps... are you expecting Gilgamesh to suddenly turn around and kill us?" It seemed like a winnable encounter, given all the other Servants were no longer a factor.

"Well _that_ is unlikely as he's nearly out of magical energy." Sasaku frowned to herself, feeling a little nervous as one might when faced with a clearly-present-somewhere, but not obvious gap.

"Odd. Was his **(Independent Action)** level very low? He should have a couple days left at least."

"Not that, actually he got partially incarnated at the end of the previous War, and that combined with hiding away in a Field constructed in the daycare, is how he was able to stay for ten years. He's simply out of magical energy, period."

"Must have been quite a fight you gave him then," Kojirou remarked neutrally.

"... actually it was because he transferred it to me," she admitted. "Don't act surprised, he did me in pretty good and fixing that burned through what I had. And since my link with Shirou broke I was leaking juice all over the place."

"Ah." He didn't have any response to that.

Sasaku leaned back a bit to look at the moon rising in the early darkness. "It's odd to see the sun and moon rise and set, naturally we don't have that in the City back home. Though here there's apparently there's some rather frightening stuff living up there. Not that the Grail, helpful as it is, gave much detail on the Types."

The two of them looked at the moon as though it was possible to identify its population from the ground. "Maybe you can trade with the moon people, nothing says they are xenophobic, just hard to reach."

"I don't suppose space has convenient leylines though. Would the Sun have more mana than Earth though? It has no organic life, though it has plenty of mass in it."

"Wouldn't it be easier to camp out on some small island? They're naturally remote but still have, you know, soil and air."

"I'd rather not start building on Gaia's backyard. Or Alaya's. Growth is likely to lead to attention, so further away is better. However, Gilgamesh implied even other stars might be inhabited, so we'd have to prepare for war regardless."

Kojirou raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember Illya planning to abandon the Einzbern holdings in Germany."

"She can have them. As long as I can replicate everything needed, it's a matter of material, energy and magical energy to build up. Even if she decided to become a rival, they'd never catch up. Your idea of an island isn't wrong per-se, just too small. I'd pick a small spot in, hmm, Africa or South America probably. One of those areas that could use some relief from conflict and irresponsible resource exploitation."

"Specifically areas as opposed to people, I take it." Saber sighed and put down his empty cup.

"Heh." Sasaku let that hang in the air, taking out another set, this one of drinking bowls and bottles of sake and other rice wines. "The planet is unlikely to ever appreciate me paving over portions of it, but as far as the people go, that's up to them. Which is to say, it will _inevitably_ come to force."

"I suppose deflecting bullets with a sword, like in those shows, should be possible with a Servant's Agility." Even so, fighting normal humans was hardly his idea of a thrilling battle.

"Hmm yes. Well you already know I can shoot spears out from my Armory via the Realm and those are quite flexible in their use, so it's more likely anyone trying to invade us will get shredded by those provided I have the magical energy. And if I don't, you'd probably be in dire straits too."

"You must be the type that builds up into something ridiculous if they're left alone for too long."

"Hmph. Considering you're one who used stubbornness to break the rules of the World by swinging a sword enough."

* * *

l

* * *

(The following is essentially telepathic, but it's also a recollection)

(Sakura)

Rider seemed a little put out about Shishou's _gift_ when I told her (and only her so far) the full story. "I'd like to think it provides independent confirmation of whatever Caster says, but can she, er the copy, be trusted to be honest? You realize that on the face of it, this is an amazing liability on her end. Which she _specifically_ wanted to avoid by being cleanly wiped from the Grail if she died?"

"You guess is as good as mine. Her thinking has likely changed since then."

"Yes but not in that way," said Caster interjected into our conversation. "Sakura wanted to make this a conference call so here **I** am."

"Wait a moment," Rider replied with some suspicion. "It isn't easy to just have a 'conference via one-to-one telepathic links."

"As Sakura -already- explained to you, **I** 'm not a separate person so it is _exactly_ one-to-one." A moment later I found myself looking at a set of lawn furniture laid out on some sort of grassland. Oddly enough it came complete with a small flock of sheep, attendant sheepdog lying down watching them, and a couple cats napping on one side of the table opposite what looked like a bottle of wine and some glasses.

"Really..." Medusa muttered, looking down at herself, now apparently in the form I had summoned her in. "This is convenient."

Caster went ahead, seating herself as the bottle slid into her hands. A flick of a finger sent the cork flying goodness knows where as she started pouring into the glasses which positioned themselves to catch the dark red contents.

"By the way, you'll have complete memories since I'm cheating and actually telling your brain 'you drank excellent wine' so it will make up something when you recall the conversation. Or it won't but simply remind you that you had excellent wine."

"I find it hard to believe you're not conscious," Rider commented, as a glass made its way over once she sat down. I followed suit, having a similar thought.

"I think, therefore I am," she clarified with a smile. "Currently, all of **us** are running at approximately... one-third baseline cognitive cycling speed. That means you are essentially two-thirds asleep, or awake, while Sakura has to use about twice as much on **me** as on herself. Don't be doing important work now, unless you can handle things moving half again as fast. However, **we** 're all synced, so it should appear as though time is flowing normally in your memory. "

"I thought we weren't compatible in that way," I say without going to details that Medusa would need further explanation about, and Caster already appreciates, frowning at the glass in my hands before experimentally taking a sip. It's mostly fruity rather than alcoholic.

"Probably your magecraft overcomes that, it appears I massively underestimated its capability. Combined with mine, and there you have it. Remember I myself am essentially simulating myself in a spiritron-based human neutral network system. The Servant vessel isn't able to fully embody the actual way original-me would think."

"So what happens to you when we're not talking?" I wonder aloud.

"Presumably there's no **me** at those points, in that one _might_ argue **I** simply don't exist. **I** certainly am not conscious," she shrugged. "From **my** perspective it's as though you're asking **me** questions with no real gap between answering one and you having another, even if those are minutes or hours apart. Put another way, if **I** had access to an outside clock, it would seem to flick forward each time."

"That must be rather disorienting," Medusa said in an apologetic tone, but Caster simply arched an eyebrow before continuing with, "That said, while this might be a more natural, **I** would advise getting better at 'desiring to know', and then 'knowing'. Currently, you ask **me** , which means **I** get simulated every time, and **I** am not sure what will happen if you constantly use your brain that way. Servants' souls are much more powerful than human ones, and while there's only a tiny fragment of mine, it can potentially outweigh all of yours."

Rider had a glint of suspicion in her eyes. Which, all things considered, was not totally deserved, if unsurprising, given Sasaku's frank cooperation. "I thought you weren't going to take over me?"

"There wasn't supposed to be any **me**. Remember when I mentioned networked intelligence? In that you access and pass information, not simulate (create) consciousness. You can simply ask me, my expectation is that you'd simply be able to remember things, just downloaded from the circuit rather than learned conventionally."

Medusa seemed unconvinced. "You talk like a different person, but surely you can, sync? With her. You should have Realm access, since Sakura uses it through you."

" **My** key, yes. But **I** can't use it, due to being in, well, a box. But it hardly matters if **I** am inside or outside of a box since there is not only a full version of **me** already walking about outside, she has a Servant vessel to use."

"A box, you say," I groan, remembering what Illya had said earlier. "I didn't intend to trap you... wherever _here_ is."

"Wait a moment," Rider said in alarm. "You don't mean that-"

"Illya doesn't quite understand," Sasaku said, immediately catching onto my train of thought. "Or rather, let's say she lacks imagination. Via magecraft with familiars it's possible to distribute consciousness and maybe one's soul, so it's entirely possible for me to use bits of herself to supplant the Grail System and still use a normal body to walk around in, if a bit diminished. Like you said, they'd (or it's a single person but distributed) both have Realm access."

"It's a matter of magical energy again, right?" Sakura asked.

"Partially. Apparently it's possible to absorb souls and grow, as it were. Possibly, like (me), one might be able to pull in but still keep separate less stable souls. Although it would really be a last resort, the necessity might arise. Homunculi have short lifespans as it is and someone like Illya has a longer one, but is running out. Maintaining that separation would be complicated as some sort of composite as would naturally tend to occur, or more assimilation given I am a Heroic Spirit, even before building a very large Realm."

" _I think she's trying to reassure you that she can deliver on that immortality thing,_ " Rider sent privately to me.

"Well not really for her. Hopefully not that," Caster corrected her as though it had been said aloud. For humans, seventy is about the life expectancy, and some can live longer to say a hundred. Compared to fifty-to-eighty, Illya has maybe two years to go. Plus, that would be a dead-end, since spinning off a soul into a body would mean having use of the Third Magic."

"Well, the Third is lost, and even if it's restricted to the Einzbern, that's not insurmountable." Rider thought about the situation with Illya. "I mean she'd be the first person to have reason to work on such a project. And she's descended from the one who apparently **is** the Grail system."

"By the way," Sakura sat up to prepare herself mentally. "I wanted to run something by you before I ask, well you-outside about it."

"Your plan to deal with your grandfather? **I** see no reason it wouldn't work," Caster replied immediately. "Which means **I** have the same blind spots you do. You'll have to talk with me in some detail. To avoid, as far as possible, any unpleasant surprises."

Rider shifted uneasily. "Are _they_ causing trouble for you? I thought you could take care of that wi-"

"It isn't _that_ , I can't stand sharing my time with him with those... parasites." Sakura glared defiantly at Sasaku who had an expression of studied indifference. "It's not the same as with nii-san." She set her jaw stubbornly, but no one reacted at all, in part because they knew already.

"You shouldn't have carelessly brought up my other disciple," Caster commented to the space next to Medusa. "Just so you know, our master is quite literally crazy over the boy. Man, sorry."

"I'm a bit surprised you can say that," Rider replied to someone above Sasaku's head.

"I can tell because her thoughts on the subject aren't self-consistent, and that sets off all kinds of error-correction alarms. Which isn't helpful since I can't actually affect her. Eh, I've had some experience with being crazy, it isn't necessarily that bad. Actually in this World, it seems to allow for great strength, insight, and so on."

"Haha," Sakura laughed darkly. "I know I lost it a long time ago... along with many other things... now that I've got people trapped inside me, I'm not even what what me means."

Caster reached over somehow despite the apparent distance and patted the girl's violet hair. "There, there. That's a hard question for anyone. Really though, you are who you are, and you might even become who you want to become."

Rider nodded. "It's quite a gift to be able to change, develop oneself. Heroic Spirits are in a sense fixed."

* * *

l

* * *

(Rin)

A human, homunculus and Servant were sitting around the dinner table sipping coffee. The third had a lot of milk and sugar in hers, while the second eschewed both. "Are you really fine with leaving it at that?" the first, whose habits lay somewhere in the middle, asked.

"I don't see many alternatives," Illya replied with some irritation at having her earlier emotional roller-coaster brought to mind. "And I think Shirou can keep Caster on the straight and narrow. Besides, shouldn't you be turning in early, given we have a literal midnight appointment to keep?"

"You did notice the part where he doesn't have her contract any more, right? And don't fob me off with that excuse, I don't know if those two went to sleep or just took the opportunity to _sleep together_."

"Not by forcing her to, we both know Command Spells have their limits, as Gilgamesh demonstrated so aptly. Are you jealous or just frustrated?" Illya just looked amused, realizing that Rin wasn't playing the spoiler out of ill-will, but some other reason.

"I don't know what's your talking about."

"Really?" Kuro spoke up, "Have you even had a boyfriend yet, at your age?"

"You don't know how critical such things are when families of magi are concerned."

Illya didn't seem convinced by that. "Aren't you literally your whole family? Who's making the decisions there?" Kuro nudged her and said something too low to catch. "Oh. Well... that's complicated, I'd say."

"Kuro, what was that?" Archer just grinned, knowing that not getting a straight answer would annoy her Master the most.

"But really," Rin said, dropping the earlier topic, "I thought your goal was some sort of self-determination. But it really seems Caster will have basically all the control all the time."

"I'm surprised that a magus like you would assume something like that," Illya muttered. "I'm not as amazing as my father... you might say I take after my mother in that respect. It isn't that I don't value independence, but revenge is already a very powerful motivation."

"Huh." Kuro seemed rather taken by surprise by that disclosure. "I guess... yeah we're pretty rare even among the Einzbern."

"You're in a Servant vessel. Unlike Mother, I can't have children, so unless there's a similar-level breakthrough, future homunculi probably won't consistently reach our level. Self-determination really loses its meaning in that case."

"Hoh, it's been a while since Mother had us though, there's more modern methods for such things. Mundane ones, that is, so Caster might be able to help."

"Well I very much doubt she has a secret husband in Germany," Rin laughed.

"I wouldn't mind doubling up," Illya said somewhat mischievously, knowing that the human sitting opposite her would catch on.

"What? Y-you can't do something like that," Kuro was taken by surprise, not expecting that line to have been taken seriously. "Or you're just joking, right?"

"Hah." Illya wasn't particularly amused by Kuro's response. "It's not just a one-sided decision to make. Well it might have been in Father's case, I don't know."

Rin folded her arms, wondering how they had gotten derailed to talking about romance and children. "Even if you somehow got past Sakura, which I doubt since she's suddenly become quite terrifying, Caster would shut you down immediately if you tried anything with Shirou. She sort of has to, given what I'm told about her Authority type."

"On the contrary," Illya corrected her. "I have a reliable source that Caster would _not_ , and as her disciple Sakura wouldn't either. Well, I'd hardly be a rival to the latter since, you know, time limit and all."

"Reliable source? You mean Gilgamesh?" Kuro bounced a bit in her chair. "That must have been an interesting story."

"Not really. I was poking at him while actually trying to figure out how things had gone down with Artoria. He said quite clearly that Caster's culture-type was like the old ones. More importantly, he did confirm being on speaking terms with Lancer by the end of the last War. Grail still blew up though," she frowned. "A bad situation all around."

"You shouldn't be too quick to discount the possibility Caster can find some way to extend your lifetime," Rin added after some hesitation. "Although he hid it pretty well by getting angry, Shirou was rather shocked to discover just how seriously she had been planning around her death. You've just been reunited, or well, you know what I mean."

Kuro just stared at Illya for a while before softly asking, "It's about Mother's death, in this world, isn't it?"

Illya simply nodded silently.

Kuro put her cup down and got up. "I'm going to see if Saber is free to play." She left.

Seeing how the other was deep in thought, Rin made to leave. "Might as well be a good soldier and take that nap."

* * *

l

* * *

 **Notes:**  
Cognitive cycling speed is being used in an analogy with clock-speed on computers. The cycle is like an OIDA loop rather than a machine cycle. Observations of the outside world show it moving faster if you are below baseline speed.

In Sasaku's thought all consciousness is simulated to some extent, the simulation is affected if one takes damage to the hardware (brain). This is not necessarily accurate to how Fateverse souls work, and _exactly_ why she guessed wrongly what would happen.

Loosely speaking, an AI is in a box if it cannot directly affect the outside world.


	56. A Farewell

**A Farewell**

* * *

(A little before midnight)

(Medusa)

"They've been around magi enough to know not to try and clean or rearrange random things," Illya was explaining to Caster. "It's totally impractical and probably less safe for them to follow us rather than hold down the fort."

"Everyone's taking risks one way or another," Sasaku agreed after a moment. "Well we're a known quantity and our signatures are quite unmissable, so let's be on guard while making this appointment."

"By the way," Rin asked conversationally. "Why are you _still_ wearing that? Anyone who spots you is going to have questions."

Caster let the question hang for a while before finally commenting cheerfully, "One _would_ expect one to have changed, huh?"

Sakura and Rider shared a glance, remembering what the other Sasaku had mentioned. _You can't really ask me about love, I never had such a strong desire for my husband. Eh, yeah there were no problems sure, but something like that won't do you any good._

" _I wonder what kind of game they're playing. Even though Illya's description of him seems more accurate than Kuro's expectations, I can't help feel like she's just being used_ ," Sakura sent over their link.

Medusa had thought so herself, but at the same time had other suspicions as well. " _At least for the moment, it seems like his Chaldea project is compatible with Caster's own plans. Honestly, it seems like we really lucked out already, given the two of them were apparently playing some high-level games, as you put it, and collided without disaster._ "

" _I suppose._ " Sakura had her own thoughts on the matter. " _Then again, that girl seems at her strongest when she seems to be getting stomped on, maybe I'm worrying too much on her account._ " Her Servant picked her up easily, as the other pairs followed suit leaving Caster and Illya as the only ones left.

"We'll stop a little outside of the Park and walk in," Sasaku addressed this to Rider who was the fastest of them. "Kuro, keep an eye out on the approach, since we'll be moving above ground level on the way there and lose those lines of sight when drop down afterwards."

"Better stay close to me," Saber said with a mix of seriousness and humor. "Trouble seems to find you whenever you're out of my sight."

"Seems so," Caster picked up Illya.

* * *

(Sakura)

When they reached the park, Medusa looked about in some surprise. Sure, the area in front of them looked like a disaster zone, with the exception of the small monument in epicenter of whatever had detonated there, but " _It feels clean,_ " she sent.

"What happened here?" Rin sounded awed and upset as the Masters dismounted and looked around cautiously.

"A very good thing," Sasaku replied, aware of the apparent contradiction. "We should be on time, so I think Gilgamesh will explain."

"You are, so I might," the boy who appeared in a golden glimmer took over. He watched Caster with a poker face as she walked over to him and dipped her head. "You might find it hard to believe, but a dark Jeanne d'Arc turned a lot of corrupted Grail energy into something like a magic bomb. Thus."

"Saints don't have a dark side," Rin replied immediately, earning a grin in response. "I did say hard to believe."

"Why don't you just tell us what you want?" Shirou asked directly. "Caster gave a uselessly detailed explanation, as is her wont."

"Typical," Gilgamesh snorted. "Thankfully I need her to understand it, and not you." Taking out a small flask from his Gate, he handed it to Sasaku before nodding in Medusa's direction. Taking the cue, she delivered the item to Rider, who looked at it curiously. "What is this?"

"Potion of youth," he said. "One dose should revert you to the form you were summoned in, which I think will essentially delete the corrupted energy you've absorbed. But as a bonus, that actually holds two doses worth. You should probably-" he cut off as Medusa immediately downed the whole thing.

"I should probably have seen that happening," he concluded ruefully as Rider doubled over and went into Spirit Form. "Well Heroic Spirits are more discrete in forms than people, so it should work out perfectly."

"You mean she has a younger form?" Sakura asked.

"Of course," he said, almost laughing. "Well, as a goddess, she wasn't born as you summoned her, so based off my interactions with her sisters I thought this would be interesting. Don't worry, I've had personal experience with this item."

"Let me guess," Kuro interjected. "That's actually a potion made from the herb of immortality that you supposedly lost to a snake."

He simply nodded, turning his attention to her. "You might not know me, but we've met. Honestly, you aren't normally summoned here, but the same goes for me. A word of advice, though you've been training like a swordsman, your conceptual basis is actually closer to a magical girl."

"Which means?"

"Don't think, imagine. You already have teleportation down, which is quite a feat after all."

"Being a magical girl sounds convenient," Saber chuckled. "Speaking of which..."

"Yeah, I know." This made Gilgamesh frown if only momentarily. "It should be easier to deal with that from the Throne. Kaleidoscope is hard to reach from within a particular branch. Huh what's that?" Caster whispered something to him. "Oh that's good then. His toys are like monkeys' paws. Speaking of which, be careful about incarnation-type wishes, they might cause you to go down in power level, even if the Grail didn't give you a corrupted body."

"I'll keep that in mind," Saber sounded skeptical.

"That's about it," he smiled, looking around with satisfaction. "I think the park's flora should regrow normally. Okay, we're done here." He motioned for Sasaku to move closer to him before throwing some sort of sash around the two of them, who disappeared.

"What-?" Shirou took a step towards where the pair had been standing, before Kojirou, who seemed to understand, blocked him. "Don't worry, she's not being kidnapped. Again." The thought seemed to amuse him.

After a tense half-minute, they reappeared, a few feet away from where they had disappeared. Sasaku was stooping slightly, with Gilgamesh looking down on her with a bit of a frown, which she returned with a most innocent expression.

 _Heh._ Sakura could guess what had happened, though she said nothing.

"I do hope this doesn't cause you any problem," Gilgamesh said apologetically to Illya as his form started to break up. "Though you seem to be handling everything so far." She nodded in silence as he disappeared.

"Well," Caster said after all signs of Gilgamesh's Spirit Origin had faded away. "It seems our secret boss is here."

The sound of metal striking metal came from the direction of one of the park's entrances.


	57. Contingency War (Arc 4 Start)

**Contingency War (Arc 4 Start)**

* * *

(Kojirou)

Weapons were immediately drawn.

"I would not recommend that," the newcomer said calmly, now showing herself fully. Saber's eyes immediately went to her long cruciform-topped polearm, thoughtfully paired with a pair of plate gauntlets. On the other hand, her only other visible armor was plate greaves and a pair of mail sleeves, leaving the neck, chest, torso, thighs all viable targets.

"What, we're _not_ going to fight?" Caster asked quizzically. Unsurprisingly, no one let down their guard or arms.

"That's entirely up to you," was the confident reply. "I'm only here to deliver a message, so your potential violence will only weaken you before the actual battle. Will you let me finish... Emiya?"

"Sasaku isn't actually my sister, you know," Shirou commented, as she glanced in his direction and shrugged.

"Ruler, isn't it?" Illya spoke up, having realized something from the exchange. "Your Class Skill **(True Name Discernment)** just malfunctioned, didn't it? You must have been affected by the corruption."

"Eh, Ruler? Is that her name?" Rin asked from the side.

"Class." Ruler shook her head and proceeded to deliver the message crisply. "True Names don't follow a single format across all Heroic Spirits. Anyway since you have obviously made common cause, a contingency Grail War ritual has been triggered. In short, a team War. The Grail System has already started the process. Since you are already gathered here, I will now confirm the members of the, let's see, Home Faction."

Everyone present took a moment to consider the situation. "Aren't you going to explain the rules of this War?" Illya prodded.

"It's quite simple. While your contracts can continue, Command Spells will be withdrawn by the Grail System to cover used energy and provide several days reserve for the War. Surviving Servants will receive their usual Grail support, with the total amount for each Faction being equal. If the Grail System runs out of energy reserves, the War ends by default, alternatively one Faction wins when the other has no survivors remaining. The winners can collectively submit wishes to the Grail, which are together granted, or not depending on what is available."

"What does collectively mean?" Shirou asked after Ruler paused.

"Everyone agrees on the request or list of requests. Of course, if there's not enough energy then you can re-submit, similarly if there would be some left over. You number four Servants and four Masters, yes?"

"Yes." Sakura said firmly, before Illya could respond. _Most likely to ensure her co-operation,_ Saber thought.

"I suppose we should expect the 'Away Faction' to drop on our heads the moment we walk out of this park," Sasaku commented pointedly.

"That would be convenient for you, with the local advantage, I'm sure," Ruler nodded to herself. "There will be a ceasefire ending on the sunset after next. So about thirty-six hours. Scout and maneuver if you wish, but no fighting unless you want to risk being disqualified."

"One last thing," Kojirou added. "What happens if the winning team can't agree on what they want?"

Ruler raised an eyebrow. "Everyone **still** alive has to agree. Otherwise the System's reserves will continue to drain until the victory is only a technicality."

* * *

The group walked back in silence. At some point when no one was paying attention to her, Caster changed clothes into the white dress from Shirou's mother, much to Kuro's amusement when she did notice.

"How is Rider?" Sasaku asked, ignoring the Archer with practiced ease. Or perhaps she was just distracted by the thought. "We still have thirty-six hours, but obviously we shouldn't expect to be able to rely on it."

"About that," Sakura began nervously, as a small cloaked and hooded figure stepped out from next to the door to the Emiya house, not hiding its Servant-level signature. "There she is."

The much-shorter Medusa pulled back her hood to reveal purple eyes which while hypnotizing in their own way, were apparently not literally petrifying anymore. "I have to thank your... er, Gilgamesh," she said with a higher voice than either of her earlier forms and also one with hardly-repressed cheer in it. "His guess, or foresight, was quite accurate."

"Is that your younger self?" Illya asked, remembering how her father had summoned a Princess Knight Artoria instead of a King of Knights one. "What were you doing at that point?"

Rider didn't answer, so as Kuro ran over to look at their companion with some excitement. Or, she wanted to see if she was taller. She wasn't. Shirou took the time to quickly usher everyone inside before someone stumbled upon their rather odd gathering outside his home. Once they were in the living room, Sakura took up the explanation. "That's the form the Gorgon sisters were born as. Hm, the classical Greek idea of _the perfect idol that men long for._ "

"I can see their point!" Kuro exclaimed approvingly, as Medusa pushed her away, taking out a long weapon with a wicked forward-curving blade. "I can still fight," she asserted firmly.

"Is that a falx?" Sasaku asked in astonishment. "How- I mean yes, the Thracians made use of those and the one-handed rhomphaia, but that's quite a leap to goddess using falxes."

"It's an immortal-slaying weapon," Rider said while hefting it. "And that's what comes to mind when they think of something capable of beheading even a monster."

"I'd say," Caster muttered to herself. "Facing those without being behind a wall of sarissas must be quickly fatal."

"Is that more effective than a normal two-handed sword?" Saber asked, looking at the design with some interest once everyone was back inside the Emiya house. "This type is useful as a type of hook, except that with its mass and the inside of the curve being sharpened, snagging an arm or neck and pulling will dismember someone unless they have some good protection."

"Can I take a look?" Kuro reached out a hand, carefully, until Medusa handed her the weapon. "A hooking action, I see. Or you could go low and take off someone's leg at the knee."

Rin retreated quickly, perhaps not expecting her Servant to happily discuss maiming people so directly. Sasaku made to return to her room before Medusa quickly reclaimed her weapon and followed her. "What is it?" Caster asked.

Rider looked at Sakura almost unconsciously for a cue before simply wordlessly pushing the other girl to her room.

"What was that about?" Kuro asked rhetorically before shifting her attention to Kojirou, already thinking of the next activity. "Maybe she needs a check-up?" Sakura answered a bit too readily, though no one present seemed to pick up on that.

* * *

(Sasaku)

The Caster sitting on her room's bed didn't waste a moment once the door closed. "What's on your mind?"

"Not me, it's about Sakura's condition," Medusa replied with a jarring seriousness. "We should act before Ruler's ceasefire ends, while the coast is clear."

"Her condition?"

Medusa nodded, sitting down next to Sasaku and turning to face her. "You did remove a... worm from where you transplanted your magic circuit, right?"

Caster froze. "I did..."

"You can probably understand the situation if I say that it wasn't hers, and it was only one of many like that."

Sasaku's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying that someone else's familiars - how many?"

"She doesn't know, but we have a plan. Let me run this by you quickly -"

* * *

l

* * *

 **Notes:**

Small Medusa is 134 cm (same as her sisters) while Kuro is 133 cm, and thus a bit shorter. Sasaku is taller then them both, being apparently fifteen compared to Kuro at (self-proclaimed) twelve.


	58. Secondary Objective

**Secondary Objective**

* * *

(Shirou)

However, when Medusa suddenly seemed very anxious for Sasaku's attention, that caught mine in turn. It would have been precipitous to intervene without more information, proven when Sakura pretty much gave away that it, whatever _it_ was, was from their end, and not Caster's. However, that didn't mean there was no cause for concern, since that girl seems pretty good at getting her way while, or perhaps specifically, as a result of, being taken advantage of.

Not that she would do anything bad to Sakura, I would like to think. Then again, her idea of what is good or bad isn't exactly the most obvious. Not a monkey paw, by any means, but nevertheless something to keep in mind - _just because she can understand us doesn't mean she agrees_.

"Hey, Sakura?" Shirou asked while idly playing with Sakura's violet hair.

"What is it?" she replied, putting down the ribbon she had just removed with an air of distraction. There were many reasons why that might be, but at the moment, the most likely one was -

"What exactly are you asking Caster about right now?"

Instinctively, Sakura shied away out of arms reach, though Shirou just remained motionless where he had been sitting on the bed. Though, when he noticed a small shift in her eyes which suggested she was about to, as many times before which he had previously not cottoned on to, go for a deflection, Shirou decided to head her off.

"If you're not going to say, just say so," he suggested directly. "I... don't know enough to understand why, but I know you have your circumstances."

The field, as it were, had been chosen carefully. On one hand, there was nothing between her and the door, and she had already put a little distance between them. But he had a pretty good idea that she didn't really want to get further away from him, quite the opposite. _Hardly needed Saber to point out how quickly she got used to sleeping with me._

Sakura took a small breath. "Grandfather has to die. This requires Servants and a good plan."

He said nothing, though a chill went up his spine. It was rather stupid to even consider pointing out that it was murder by Servant, which he did not. On the other hand, he did wonder _what exactly did he do to her?_

Apparently Gilgamesh had seen something very frightening about the nervous girl facing him, which he had expressed to Sasaku. In between returning to them and the midnight meeting, she had taken the precaution of telling Saber, who suspected it was involved with Rider's earlier transformation into what Kuro had recognized as Gorgon, and the reason for the gift of youth potion. _What a tangled mess._

"Is it just him?" Shirou asked carefully, realizing that during the earlier schoolday, Shinji had apparently skipped. And despite him having been sent to the church, he hadn't been there when they cleared it and extracted Illya.

"He's the last Matou magus," she explained simply, before adding. "It's been five hundred years." _Ah. So **that's** why the doubt about Caster's discussion of life extension._

Just to confirm his earlier guess though, he followed up with, "Did you or she come up with the plan?"

"Er, neither. It was the Count's idea, but ironically I guess he ended up proving it was possible."

"Hm." _Not quite sure what to make of that_. Without any better idea, Shirou just patted his lap as an unspoken invitation.

* * *

(Sakura)

Unconsciously taking a step towards Shirou before realizing, when she did, Sakura went for it and rather recklessly thew herself at him, like she'd always wanted to do.

"Wha- hey-!"

Though he caught her easily enough, their now-combined momentum sent the pair rolling across the bed to crash into the wall between Shirou's room and Sasaku's next door.

 _I hope that didn't cause any disruption,_ Sakura thought hazily as Shirou, having had his side slam into the wall, was thrown back onto her, shook his head to clear it. "Are you ok?" she asked quietly.

In response he gave up trying to disentangle himself and pressed a light kiss on her lips before deciding to go all-in and pushing through to delve into her mouth. And then a little deeper.

"Um," she muttered with a mix of hesitation and regret during a brief moment for breath. Her partner paused, only now noticing the hand pushing, if barely, against his shoulder, and blinked in confusion.

"Don't want to?" Delivered casually though she could probably reach him by just sticking out her tongue slightly, they were so close.

"Would tonight be good?" she asked, blinking. It was hard to read expressions that close. Shirou didn't seem quite sure what the hangup was about until she added, "I have to work with Caster today, so..."

His expression turned serious as he separated himself and lay down next to her. "That serious? She didn't need any special preparation to graft part of herself, a Servant, into you."

"That was because my magecraft bypasses certain types of compatibility issues, right?" she replied, clasping his hand. "And she was pressed for time, I guess."

"I suppose," he accepted grudgingly. "But if you're contemplating something as risky as her practically suicidal plan then, I'll have Saber scold you until you change your mind." He turned to face her. "Because he apparently did, if after the fact."

"I don't think that'll happen," she giggled at the thought. "Since Rider wouldn't stand for anything like that."

"Yeah. Though, aren't she and Kuro actually chasing one another around the courtyard like a couple of kids right now?"

"... yes."

* * *

(Tuesday morning)

"I guess I'll be taking the kids to school?" Kojirou, back in the suit from yesterday, was looking at the group of Shirou, Rin and Medusa, who were all wearing uniforms.

"Rider and Saber will be with the away-group," Caster explained. "While Kuro will help hold down the home front. Sakura and I have some work to get done, ideally before everyone returns, but if there's a situation then she'll let Rider know and she'll pass the message. Otherwise just stay in Spirit Form."

"You could pass for it, but there's no way Medusa would be mistaken for a student in that section, even if she's wearing the right clothes," Rin added. "I suppose you have an excuse in mind?"

"Don't worry about it," Sakura replied. "Let them call Grandfather, he'll deal with it." Medusa disappeared in a sprinkle of gold and the trio remaining at home waved to the trio departing.

"Alright," Sasaku turned immediately to business, and headed back to her room with Sakura following. "The faster we get this part done, the less likely it will be noticed."

On the floor of the room was an odd looking magic circle, made of words written in rune-like script spiraling around like a whirlpool with various designs of flowering and thorny vines wrapped all around. Two other smaller and less ornate circles sat nearby, linked by said vines.

"What are those?" Sakura asked curiously, eyeing the set up with some interest. "Those don't look the normal runes magi use."

"That's the old script of my people. As you can guess, this is akin to a formalcraft ritual," Caster explained. "But there's no ambient mana here in the Realm, so this functions more like magical machinery that integrates with and uses the Realm, rather than me with my own magic circuits. More stable for this application."

Sitting down in one of the smaller circles, Sasaku motioned towards the clear space in the larger one. "If we isolate this area from scrying and other magical interference, the main danger is obviously physical. From the... parasites. So as a counter, this, a variable effect paralysis. Similar to when one is asleep, it should also allow use of magecraft. Which you will be using to take over control from your Grandfather."

"Sounds about right." Sakura settled into a seated position, facing Caster. "So what's the schedule like?"

"Based on what you've told me, your ability to use the Matou magecraft should increase with each Crest Worm you successfully bind. So I expect starting with the weakest, probably in the extremities and working upwards for phase one, with the critical areas of, let's see, heart, spine and brain stem for the phase two. Medusa will be there for that part."

"Got it." She had steeled herself for this moment, though oddly enough that had not prevented her from being able to sleep soundly earlier.

"You'll have to message me via the Realm using magecraft," Caster added. "Since standard speech would be inhibited. Let me know **immediately** if you experience any pain in the process. It's critical that the worms are as close to totally immobilized as possible, since even a little damage to the heart in phase two, for example, could be fatal."

Sakura nodded before closing her eyes to aid in concentration as the circle around her began to fill slightly with magical energy under Sasaku's control.

"I'll be sending you scan data from the circle," Caster said softly to avoid breaking her focus. "But something is interfering with it, so I'm giving you control access to that function. Try the right hand."

* * *

l

* * *

(Tuesday afternoon)

(Medusa)

A fairly uneventful day over, as everyone returned, Medusa hurried over to Caster's room to check in on her Master, and was relieved to find her resting on the bed. "How did it go?" she asked the other Servant who was watching over Sakura.

"Very well," was the answer. "As expected, it wasn't perfectly tuned, but that has been ironed out by now. Everything healed up with no complications. Is everyone outside?"

"Illya's group prepared something for them to eat, should I bring Sakura something?"

"Something light would be a good idea. I guess now is a good time to quickly brief Kuro on her part with Saber, so I'll ask one of the maids to bring it. You stay here." With that, Caster left to finish preparations for phase two of the day's plan.

Rider had suspicions that the next part would be harder, if anything. She turned to Sakura. "How are you feeling so far?"

The answer was encouraging, but also a little concerning.

"They're mine now, I feel their power in my grasp."

"I see." Looking deep into her eyes, Medusa wasn't sure if perhaps there was something deep in those depths which hadn't been there before. Was it more of a light at the end of a tunnel, or a flame at the bottom of an abyss, she couldn't say for sure.


	59. Fire and Shadow (Battle)

**Fire and Shadow (Battle)**

* * *

(Matou house)

(?)

It was, perhaps, a measure of threats encountered and overcome, that even two Servants breaking into his house did not elicit immediate alarm. Well, it was likely they were intending to fetch items from the girl's room, or perhaps had left something of their own two days ago. However, when the small one walked directly to the door loading to the basement stairs and kicked it open, shattering its lock in the process, he realized that something had very much not gone to plan.

 **(Caladbolg)**

Holding the spike-like sword like a lawn dart, Kuro tossed it down the stairway into the basement's door, which the exploding Noble Phantasm atomized, regardless of any magical Reinforcement or wards. A second sword followed the first into the gaping opening, clearing a large area beyond the doorway. She turned to Kojirou, pulling out her black bow while doing so.

"Enemies all over, but mostly down there," Saber said, with his weapon out. Now that they had already made their intentions clear, speed and throughness was of the essence.

"Right. Cover my back." Fitting the last two pre-prepared arrows to the bowstring, she jumped lightly down into the cavernous basement that had been painstakingly hollowed out in secret below the Matou house.

To the eyes of the magus down below, his enemy was clearly illuminated by the cold light coming off her two missiles. To her (Mind's Eye) empowered senses, he and the numerous guardians rushing towards here were as visible as under noon light. She drew her bow back in a single smooth action, then loosed.

 **(Caladbolg III, Double Fake Spiral Sword)**

The two projectiles shot forward, the air the pair rocketed through whistling with a pitch like a scream as they spun wildly, their spin causing them to veer unpredictably to all but the one who had shot them. A mass of worm guardians flung themselves sacrificially at the arrows, which separating, went wide before inexplicably curving back to converge on their target.

Instinctively, he raised a hand as well as magecrafts and wards. However, the lot and he were wiped out instantly upon impact, the blast wave continuing past his disintegrating body, hitting the rear wall and then reflecting back towards his attacker with hardly diminished momentum due to the confined space.

* * *

(Kuro)

 _Perhaps a Noble Phantasm that destroys land was not the best choice,_ even if not at full power, she thought while hopping up past the destroyed stairs to rejoin Saber. A whirring sound like razors crashing against one another followed close behind as a number of flying insects who had survived the overpressure chased the invader.

"Help please!" Kuro ducked under Kojirou's sword and made her away behind him as he adjusted his facing to meet the oncoming swarm.

Even a single one of the Blade Wing Worms could easily kill a man, however as they rushed forward, Saber's weapon began flashing to match them. They might as well have been charging into a blender for all the effect they had. Less, since a blender's blade would have broken or at least chipped. Various broken insect parts rained back down into the burning basement.

"I don't think you got all of them," he commented as the tide abruptly ended, leaving the way clear. Kuro kicked a few stray insects away, making a face as the old house made an alarming creaking sound. "I think the whole place is going to collapse on them."

As if to reinforce the point, she looked at the much larger worms trying to make their way up towards them, and sent another Caladbolg down. Though the massive abominations had somehow survived the blast pressure and flying debris shrapnel thanks to their thick chitin plates, the Noble Phantasm mulched them with its explosive power. In response, the dust had that been falling from the ceiling and everywhere else exploded, throwing everything that remained back down into the basement and leaving the Servants with ringing ears. The original structure had been up to specification, but age and lack of maintenance along with the modified basement undercut that greatly.

Multiple Noble Phantasm detonations below and a dust explosion through its two floors sounded the death knell for the Matou house. Saber looked about, accessing the situation before re-evaluating the relevance of his earlier comment. "This is probably what Caster expected. Let's go."

The two of them entered Spirit Form as the house finally gave in to gravity and collapsed into the large pit that had once been Zouken's hidden Workshop. It wasn't long before the fire department arrived, but by then the pair were already back in the Emiya estate.

* * *

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* * *

(Matou Zouken)

Overconfidence is easily and painfully shown up by over-preparation, and this was perhaps one of the few times he had been on the latter rather than the former side. As his hazy and distributed-over-many-surviving-familiars consciousness stabilized, he considered the absurdity of someone sending not one, but **two** Servants to assassinate him, with Noble Phantasms at that.

But it was not the first time his main body had been 'killed' and the very reason for having many other worms spread out around Fuyuki. However, unthinkable amounts of his research had been wantonly destroyed, and reforming an appropriate new body without already preparing for the process would be painstaking to say the least. However, as it frequently did, opportunity showed itself in a chink in the enemy's plans.

Though one might expect Caster to have magically isolated Sakura, he could sense some of his finest creations, the control worms that had been implanted and fully matured inside the girl. It was practically heaven-sent, if he had believed in such things. She was a Master and, as he had been thinking before the attack, the Grail's corruption had been largely cleared in recent days. After all, he had prepared her for such an eventuality as this, and the irony of her co-operation having been a likely contributor to the attack which necessitated this contingency was amazingly fitting.

A relatively complete human body would serve well, and though he hadn't really intended a gender-change it hardly mattered since there were no other options available. As his consciousness pooled together and solidified, he appreciated how complete these particular familiars were in terms of supporting him. Now, first to take full control over Sakura's body, then after that he could...

"Well hello," Caster said with obviously feigned cheer from across a shimmering magic field, interrupting all his thoughts as the world went black.

* * *

Although he didn't know the details, it was clear enough to guess that Emiya's Caster had reverse-engineered enough of his magecraft to consider killing him. While pondering this, a cloaked figure revealed themselves, hypnotically unnatural purple eyes giving away her identity despite her definitive form.

 **Medusa.** His outreached hand was pulled back just in time to avoid being removed by the sudden flash of a weapon. She frowned, reading to strike again as he saw an opportunity to interpose himself between her and the Grail. _Yes, it should not be too hard,_ indeed even if it held only temporarily, once he had Sakura's body then he could simply use her Command Spells.

Steeling himself to take a hit if need be, Zouken lunged at her to make the necessary contact. But right as the pair made their moves, a third party tripped the magus sending him to the ground, losing precious seconds.

"Now!"

 **(Caress of the Medusa)**

About the time he had gotten to his knees, the long curved weapon arced forward, slicing, and then faster and faster several times as if in an attempt to match the 'speed' of Sasaki Kojirou's technique. In what could only be a fraction of a second, she effortlessly took him apart. A small shower of body parts fell onto the blackness that was the 'floor'.

"Well," Sasaku nodded in satisfaction, looking down on the mess with approval. "I guess you and Kuro weren't just playing chase."

"What."

"This isn't the time," Sakura said, appearing from the surrounding shadows and raising a hand. Doubtlessly preparing magecraft. "This is a day of-"

 _Foolishness._ In the waking world, as soon as Sakura's black filaments pierced the worms hosting Matou Zouken, they in turn unleashed black spikes in retaliation as both sides used the same connections to overtake the other. Sakura's mindscape, attacked from the outside, gave way.

* * *

 _Hm hm hm.._

He practically laughed as the two of them, less the troublesome interfering Servants, were dropped into a replica of a place he knew full well, though it no longer existed 'outside.' His now-destroyed Workshop in the Matou basement.

 _You left yourself open,_ he thought with increasing clarity as the added consciousnesses of his many other worms started piling in, making themselves known in a tide that rushed onto the girl. She fell under their mass with a shriek as another group of worms rushed to join themselves to Zouken's dismembered parts, putting the magus back together.

As his familiars shredded whatever Sakura had on and began devouring her, he considered the various options. If he acted quickly once her mind gave way, Medusa could be used to take out Caster just as quickly as she had him. At that point, it was all upside, with the exit of simply assembling a wholly worm-based body still available in the last case if Sakura's was destroyed by Archer or Saber. That was all well and good, but...

His worms broke their teeth on something hard just under the girl's skin. _A ward? Or perhaps a simple mental defense. Regardless..._ Planning done, Zouken prepared a final binding spell to finish it once and for all.

The writhing heap of worms that had piled onto the fallen Sakura shook as thousands of black filaments pierced their way through them. _Not so simple..._ Dying worms went flying, their connections to him fading away as they perished in the waking world from the fatal feedback of Sakura's attack reaching their physical bodies. Like a rising avenging spirit, she got to her feet, spitting out a mass of shredded flesh; a worm that had forced its way into her mouth before the metamorphosis.

Random scraps of torn clothing lazily fell, floating to the ground like some obscene commentary on the now-exposed glassy obsidian surface that had replaced her skin. Trails of dark blood rolled down here and there in the grooves which were the only result of his worms' teeth. Not paying attention to him for the moment, she batted around herself, clearing the area of his worms before another round of filaments fatally pierced them.

 _No._ **No!** In a sudden flash of insight, he realized that the reason he couldn't earlier connect with the many other familiars placed in her body wasn't because they had somehow been removed. That was impossible given the time frame involved. She had taken them over somehow. _She simply intends to kill off all the others, so that the remaining ones in her will trap me._

It was indeed a reversal of sorts, but he was too calm to give in to panic. In its purest sense, binding to oneself went both ways, and it depended greatly on who had the advantage. Mental or spiritual strength, knowledge, practice, magical circuits, Command Spells and so on. He sent his attack towards the dark shadow opposing him, as she did. Sharp spikes met piercing filaments, as the two sides reached out to and into one another.

...

An arm went around his neck, and a moment later a knee to the back snapped him in two. Zouken had the odd experience of suddenly having his vision flipped upwards as Sakura's attack closed in on the pair.

"But you'll be hit too," he muttered. Rather than the attack directly inflicting damage, it was the distraction that sealed his fate. The Caster with unfitting black eyes just smiled cheerfully as the two of them were riddled through. "Yes."

* * *

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* * *

(Sakura)

She blinked as her eyes focused on Sasaku's dark green pair that was scrutinizing her.

"How are you feeling?" Caster asked, a tinge of worry in her voice. Sakura would have nodded if it was possible, but instead sent over the agreed message. _It is finished._

Medusa sighed in relief as the magic circle faded back to its unenergized state, freeing her Master. Sakura quietly glanced downwards at her arm, which appeared normal enough.

"What will happen to all his other bound familiars now that you have his consciousness trapped?" Caster asked, sliding around her to take a look at the back of Sakura's neck just in case. There was apparently nothing that caused her concern.

"They will likely simply perish," she replied, seeing that the pair were not aware of the latter half of the battle that had taken place. "They are parasites, unable to normally support themselves without additional magical energy from another. In their _now_ feral state, starvation will occur."

Nodding, Medusa helped Sakura to her feet. "What about the ones you bound earlier. Any trouble from them?" She shook her head after doing something like a roll-call of the lot. Though they might present a potential weakness to anyone who knew about them, the special three worms she left to trap Zouken could not be removed until she had ensured his soul was, in fact, fully trapped. Ideally shredded into bits, each one kept in its own little Imaginary Space prison.

Her copy of Caster was practically nodding in approval. It was likely that Zouken, via his worms had taken over multiple other people in the Matou line or simply re-inserted himself back in rather than actually reincarnating or transferring his soul after death, but jailing him was safest and in the event of her death, would be at worst the same as killing him at that later point.

 _Not to mention we can research souls and so on in that time._ She was about to reply to her Caster but, upon opening the door, had her attention grabbed by Shirou who was just outside. He looked thoughtful. "I suppose this was part of your plan?" he asked, pointing to the living room, where by the sounds of it, the news caster was reporting on an explosion that had just taken place. _The Matou house._

"It was necessary," Rider replied for her simply. "Some infestations need fire."

He simply shrugged. "I guess you two will be staying here longer, then."

Sakura reached out and caught his hand, a sparkle in her eyes as she made for the next door down. His room, or rather, theirs. "There's a lot I need to tell you."

"Hm." He turned to look at Caster, who was already stepping back into her room to work on something else. "I'm all yours, dear." Though he was 'conveniently' facing the other way, she knew that he had been waiting. "I know."

* * *

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* * *

 _ **Notes:**_

That double shot is just a play on the copy-of-a-copy-of (or Fake Fake) Caladbolg. Because magical archers always have a multishot, or so Kuro would say.

Getting hit with a magecraft that binds you to the attacker obviously doesn't do much if you're already part of them.

Various debriefings next time.


	60. Second Time

**Second Time**

* * *

"What about Sakura and Shirou?" Rin asked, looking at the assembled group filling the living room.

"They have their own things to work out," Sasaku replied. "This is more of a discussion than final planning, and I'm sure Rider and Saber will keep them up to date. We're nearing a critical turning point, about-" she glanced at a clock on the wall. "Thirty hours from now, when the sun sets. To start; I think we have a pretty good idea where the other team is."

"Did you find out anything about them?" Illya asked, remembering what Kojirou had mentioned about the preparations for the previous battle.

"No," Sasaku said plainly. "Now, there are two areas with strong enough anti-scrying measures to hide even Servant-level signatures from various forms of indirect detection: the temple, which is mostly a natural feature, and the Fuyuki church. It is likely that Ruler was hiding in the former, so..."

"Did something change in the church's Fields?" Rin frowned. "Or rather, you mean it _didn't_ change though Kotomine isn't maintaining it."

Caster nodded simply before continuing. "We have some advantages, even with Ruler's attempt to keep the field level. The main one is that while they have held position, and we have thus not scouted them, they in turn haven't scouted us; additionally, this means we know the lay of the land and they do not, at least not to the same level of detail. Secondly with the Field here as prepared ground, we should stand a good chance **if only** they would just charge at us." She finished her piece.

Kuro bounced in her seat, "So, long-distance shots? Easy enough. Arrows or exploding swords?"

"Figures that you wouldn't fear Kotomine's god," Kojirou muttered. "Unless they don't take their houses being attacked too seriously anymore."

"As long as he hasn't taken to arming Gilgamesh's kindergartners I think it will work out. But," Caster said seriously, "I will pay damages since the Church in this world has high-level kill-teams I rather not tangle with. _How_ I'll do that is a problem for another day."

"Executors? I suppose, though it is quite likely they would also rather forget that Kirei was involved in this war at all."

"Are you likely to be able to identify enemies moving towards us on their approach?" Rider returned the discussion to the upcoming battle. "I'm guessing they wouldn't be able to do the same to us because we're in here."

"If they have very obvious Noble Phantasms, perhaps. But a normal sword or spear, not so much."

"An actual fight," Saber sounded optimistic. "If it's supposed to be an even battle, they should have a swordsman, I wonder if that means Musashi might show up."

"I should hope not," Rin raised an eyebrow. "Since you would be conceptually weak to them. Specifically. Like with Caster and kindergartners apparently. I don't get how that happened."

"It was just a turn of phrase," Sasaku responded without interest. "I doubt I'm specifically weak to children with firearms. Besides humans are hardly able to harm Servants in the first place. Now, what does concern me is if the enemy has an Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm. In such a case we would have to hide behind Kuro's shield, since that shouldn't count as a fortification."

"But the house would be destroyed, and we'd all be homeless," Kojirou added.

"I guess that means we'll all have to live in Illya's castle," Kuro grinned. "Ah yes, speaking of which I did use up some energy earlier and I was wondering... Illya."

"Er, what?" The addressed homunculus looked warily at her Servant counterpart. "Aren't you already contracted with Tohsaka?"

"Heh heh," the Archer flickered over in front of her as Medusa moved over to try and stop her. "There's no need for that, since I can just-"

Kuro's energy-seeking was interrupted by a sudden rippling distortion that blew the two apart. One of the nearby maids acted to try and break Illya's fall, but Medusa was faster and caught her first. Kuro went flying, but simply teleported herself back down to the ground, pouting.

"You know in some stories it's dangerous to touch past or parallel versions of yourself," Rin commented in a chastising tone. "So it might be best not to get too close to her."

"If only it was possible to have simply become a Heroic Spirit myself," Illya grumbled. "It would have helped a lot."

"Um, well actually..." Kuro turned to look at Sasaku. "For me, it involved that wand Rin had. However, by now you're too old to become a magical girl."

"That don't actually pan out," Illya frowned. "Sure I am actually older than the humans here, but then again Caster is even older. We both look about the right age, so it isn't about the 'optics' either."

"I'm pretty that was patter rather than a genuine explanation," Rin thought aloud. "Because after all, if it follows that Dimensional Refraction phenomena, it already has contracted with a magical girl version of Illya, thus Kuro. Whereas Sasaku is a more unique catch, so to speak. Ruby did say she didn't seem to have a magical girl version, which is understandable."

"Hooray for being a foreigner," Caster said in an exaggerated flat tone. "Next people will be cutting me open to see how my insides work. By the way, that's interesting since it seems to allow people to jump up to Servant level."

"But that's easy compared to actually mastering a True Magic, which what the wand uses." Illya pointed out. "Manufacturing a wand that does so is probably even harder than getting the Magic in the first place, while apparently one can construct a Jeweled Sword without the Magic. Somehow."

"Did Gilgamesh happen to say anything about this sudden change to the War?" Medusa inquired suddenly. She seemed to have taken up the role as the discussion's moderator. "It seems like a major point, but... I guess not."

"That would have been convenient, wouldn't it?" Sasaku mused. "Tomorrow is critical through, since I'm pretty sure the police will want to talk to Sakura."

"Is that going to be a risk?" In Rin's estimation, such an event would not rank particularly high on the ordered list of 'things that are hard to cover up' but without Kirei to do so, the situation was more complicated.

"Probably not, since they have no way of even figuring out what happened. It isn't even about an alibi since Sakura wasn't there for several days earlier. However, it would be best if they did not keep her busy past sunset. Suffice it to say I rather not intervene."

"You don't think they'd be very suspicious about her leaving for the whole weekend before her house blows up?" Illya sounded doubtful of this.

"There's nothing at all to actually go off," Caster remarked. "Stuff just spontaneously exploded as far as they should be able to. Without the ability to identify magical energy residues, there isn't an ignition source or detonator to be found. Also, once they realize something happened to Kotomine, if they haven't already or been told by Ruler, the Church will be on the job."

* * *

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* * *

(Sakura)

" _He is going to find out about Shinji at some point,_ "

" _I know that, I just couldn't..._ " Sakura sighed, looking blankly at the door. It wasn't that Shirou had walked out on her as much as... she couldn't go on, and he could tell that his presence was worsening rather than helping her.

The door opened for a concerned Rider to peek in on her. "Is everything alright, Master?" She waved over the Servant instead of immediately answering.

"I know it's a great day, but I feel terrible," Sakura confessed while hugging Medusa as though she was the child she looked like. Odd, how earlier her more imposing form was just the reassurance she needed to seize her fate, but now she was much more approachable. _Though, come to think of it, Medusa isn't lacking in muscle in this form either.-_

"Did everything go fine with Shirou?" Rider asked after a moment, concern slightly tinging her voice. It was more melodious and of course higher-pitched than when she was Gorgon.

"I didn't finish telling him everything I should have," she admitted more to herself than anyone else. "Fighting Grandfather seems easier by comparison."

"That means you care about him a lot more," she said confidently. Unlike Caster who tolerated or more accurately took ironic amusement at being treated like her apparent age, Rider seemed to enjoy it, unsurprisingly given her history.

"I guess you're right."

"Let me tell you something." Medusa lowered her voice in a dramatic way. "Caster is jealous of you, never fell in love with her own husband, oddly enough."

"Really?" _That was unexpected._ "I thought they were together for most of her life as an immortal," Sakura said distractedly. Though her cloak looked very cute and was quite functional, it did hide her nice hair. Though she could wear it loose like before, when tied into a ponytail at the back, it was quite a striking look, especially paired with the Mystic Eye Killers, which looked like normal glasses of the modern age.

"Well, you can just ask the one you're carrying around, since she'd know. Though it might be unfair to go behind her back like that."

"No, since it isn't like I can compel her to answer." Sakura didn't have an interest in the subject, and didn't actually ask. "She'd refuse if the first one would. For the same reasons."

"Ok." Medusa let the topic drop because she had another thing in mind. "Is she actually weak to children for some reason? There's something very odd going on there, and not just Kuro and Gilgamesh. How did she die?"

"Well, that one might be important, huh?" Her Master took a while to gather her, or rather Caster's thoughts. "Her enemies were going to put her to death, so she asked them to have their children do it? Ah, it's because they had child soldiers. Um..."

"I don't get it," Rider said with some confusion.

"Yeah, it's odd," Sakura agreed.

" _It's not really, they had me so my future paths came down to basically how I was going to die. Thus, I picked the most ridiculous one which they didn't expect._ "

" _Do you mind explaining that one a bit?_ " Sakura frowned to herself. Sure, Servants might be rather blase about dying, given that they had already, by their own existence, proven it wouldn't do them in. But it seemed that most of Caster's achievements were only **after** she died, not before.

" _Hmm, how one confronts death and, well, dies is pretty important. I think Medusa would know that from her culture as well. Anyway, that was an interesting moment because it was the first and I suppose only time I was told explicitly where my future was headed. Which was to say, my death. So naturally I immediately repeated it to my captors._ "

Medusa said something about epitaphios logos but it was mostly grail knowledge, since she had little experience outside of the Shapeless Isles.

" _Yeah, basically that. Well, actually I commended_ the kids _to their mighty one for being zealous with his zeal. And explained to them why I was on the other end of their guns. And told them to never lose in zeal to the followers of anyone else. And they let me go on for a while."_ Sasaku chuckled. _"Imagine teaching Sunday school to the people about to execute you. Well, it was surreal all around for everyone I suppose._ "

" _Then?_ "

" _Then I finished. Then they shot me._ "

" _But what was the point of it?_ " She wasn't quite sure if the story had a particular moral to it.

" _I didn't say there was one. Anyway, I suggested they get twenty-one, but they wanted fourteen because they lacked the numbers. But, they ended up with only thirteen, so someone's girl got roped in for the honor. I met her afterwards, and given that this was after I died and came back, you can guess what happened to her. She didn't know it was me though, so she never found that one person who was shot by a firing squad of children._ "

"Well, that might not be so bad actually, all things considered." Rider shared her thoughts on the odd story. "I mean, it's unlikely the enemy will be able to get her to agree to die, after all. But I do hope this Grail stops letting children be summoned, Kuro and two of us looking the part is enough."

"I see. By the way, about Toh- Rin. Shirou and I talked about it, and after what happened with his sister we decided that..."

* * *

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* * *

(That evening, Sasaku's room)

(Shirou)

Shirou glanced at what had earlier been a magic circle, but was now more like an intricate whirlpool that spread across the floor and up the walls of his Caster's room. "Am I interrupting?"

"Not at all," she said, sitting up and looking at him. The green runes and line drawings seemed to mirror her eyes, glowing darkly in the light. "Did Saber give you the rundown?"

"Yes." He paused to examine what was probably a small cluster of grapes at the edge of the formation as it currently stood. "I take it we're running out of energy."

"Close enough. We got through the earlier battle in great shape, but this changes everything and worsens the odds. If the other side are indeed in a similar situation as us, the most likely outcome is we will both run out during combat expenditures, since one side is unlikely to abruptly collapse. Given that even the Grail has very finite reserves in the context of Servants, we will need area control to access the leylines. Like, _yesterday_ , to use an overused expression."

"Sakura seems to think that Rider becoming small is quite the boon in disguise."

Caster nodded. "Probably, though at best it buys us time. Illya's help might be the critical piece in winning the race. Though it's hard to judge since we've got part research, part engineering but also actual blueprints to go off." _The Jeweled Sword. How odd that it should come about in a place and time like this. As though..._

He paused for a moment to refocus. "I didn't know the full extent of Sakura's situation. You don't, I probably still don't, but I'm a bit surprised you reacted like that. Wasn't it risky?"

"Let me tell you a brief story about my people. When I came out of the house of those who afflicted me with hard labor, there was one who did a thing to us along the way. When the final peace arrived, the memory of him was finally wiped out from under heaven, as we had been commanded to do."

Shirou wasn't interested in following her breadcrumb-trail. "That makes no sense."

"When someone comes at you with deadly intent, take them seriously and do accordingly. She has told you that her Grandfather could attempt to size control of her body? If so, you shouldn't be surprised I jumped like a scalded cat when she did me."

He fixed her with a level gaze. "Perhaps not, though it's all in hindsight. What I don't understand is why you had to bring that up, since as you yourself admitted, they are likely _centuries_ away."

"Even our children remember. If I was the type to have kept silent on such things, we wouldn't be having this conversation," she replied simply.

"For goodness' sake, I get that you're sort of Grail-translating into Japanese, but it's incredibly obtuse at times."

She raised an eyebrow, _obviously because it doesn't seem so to her._ "One, if I hadn't you would have noticed eventually and, two, you'd never trust me to actually answer given I had already tried to keep it hidden. Third it is my style to lay things out as-is. Most importantly fourth, if I was the type to keep something so important to me secret, you'd do well to be highly suspicious of what I claim is important to me."

"See, you could have unpacked that somewhat the first time around." Sasaku only shrugged in response.

"Do you actually teach people back at home?" He didn't try to hide the doubt in his voice. Sasaku didn't reply for a couple of seconds. "Not humans."

"..." They looked at one another for a moment before she continued. "I mentioned them, didn't I? We have various artificial intelligences around. Speed and networking aside, most are at the quality of a clever animal. Some reach adult human level, but only in narrow areas of expertise." Caster thought before adding, "You might be wondering if we could add together enough human-level narrow intelligences to get a human-level general intelligence. Theoretically, we could but practically the complexity increases more than linearly, making it essentially less useful than they were in their individual specializations."

 _I think I can see why she was more apathetic towards Illya._ "So you're saying they aren't people."

This amused her. "They'd say they aren't people. Animals do have their rights, though your pet is unlikely to need a day of rest as it doesn't work. I know that in this world, even inanimate objects can become sentient, but that doesn't happen to us. Though we do anthropomorphize things as well. But there's a more critical thing about about both, which is why neither are our civilization." She paused, for emphasis perhaps. "They just don't satisfy mighty one anywhere near we do. Thus, we will always be the main part of the nation."

Shirou blinked in surprise. "Come again?"

"We're post-scarcity, what did you think we're doing? Ok, that's actually an unfair question. It's just our civilization's supergoal. I could go into a long analogy, but in the modern age, the carrot-nation is mostly orange carrots for a reason."

He waited for her to continue, but she had actually stopped rather than paused. "Because people farm them, yeah?"

"Exactly. Similarly with say the wheat plants, or chickens and cows. The modern ones are not the same as the ancient ones by design, and they exist not for themselves."

"I see... Honestly, though Sakura seems to have access to your records, I'm pretty sure they just confuse her even more."

"Not surprising, since it wouldn't have me explaining it. My thoughts and memories aren't laid out like a textbook, after all."

"I still haven't forgiven you for sneaking that in, by the way." She simply tilted her head in confusion. "You said it was just a magic circuit."

"Magic circuits are linked to the soul, and while it's true that I specifically made sure the bit I gave was quite densely packed, you're forgetting it had a protective lock on it, quite _unlike_ a Trojan horse."

"What was that, by the way?" This was interesting, because Sakura hadn't mentioned what it was, and he doubted it was like accidentally putting in 'password' as the password.

"Basically a combination of being distressed on my behalf and wanting answers. Though she should have known I wasn't dead."

"Hm. Well, I think it was more that she though Gilgamesh would, how to put it, not 'take advantage' but, more like. Force himself on you."

"I see." Her lack of surprise stood out. Since he had been watching for it.

"I think she might have a bit of an unfortunate history," Shirou said as though moving onto a separate topic.

"If so, she never told me," Caster remarked, making her ignorance clear. Or at least trying to give the impression, badly.

"She hasn't told me either," he muttered, more to himself than anything. Given how the Servant had some pretty powerful analysis Skills, she probably knew a lot more. But it was best that she kept out of it.

"I need to discuss something about contracts," Sasaku said after the silence had stretched on for long enough to be its own dialogue.

"Shoot."

* * *

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* * *

(Illya)

"That's unexpected," the Einzbern said as they drank coffee. "I thought for sure Shirou would never countenance it."

"It is a simple fact that we need to be firing on all cylinders," Caster replied in her usual manner. "And as you recall, it isn't as though Kuro could use your energy. Not that I would have countenanced her trying, danger aside."

"True enough. Well, it's just another part of the assistance promised under our agreement." The two of them shook hands. "I take it you have the necessary magical setup for forging a contract though, since it might be more difficult without Command Spells."

"The circle we used to summon Saber is still usable." Sasaku put down her cup. "Not to be pushy, but since we're going all-in tomorrow evening, it's important to get all our cards on the table in a timely manner."

"That reminds me, one of my maids would count as a decent magus, it might be worthwhile to see if you can link with her as well."

Sasaku turned to Kojirou who was sipping tea while waiting for Kuro to finish sparring with one of the maids, who had apparently been trained by Lu Bu. "By the way, is the contract between you and Shirou stable? I assume you would have said something if there was a problem."

"You're right. What's on my mind is who will be attacking us tomorrow."

"Hmm. Well I do wish you all the best in having that duel, since it would imply the other party isn't a holy sword user."

"Spoken like a tactician," he smirked. "But I do understand it will be a group effort, not just four one-on-ones."

* * *

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* * *

Notes:

A supergoal is a goal with no higher goals, you do it because it is the supergoal, not to further some other objective, because there is no more important objective.

The main reason Caster says things like "If I was such-and-such a person" is actually because she's referring to functional decision theory (which is part of what she was teaching AIs, though it won't come up here). If you search FDT though, it only shows up at 2017, so she'd never be able to refer them to it since it's over a decade in the future for them.

A bit more still to tie together before the battle.


	61. Records

**Records**

* * *

 **(Illyasviel)**

 _Hmmm~_ As though he could hear her gaze, Shirou turned around to his older sister watching him thoughtfully. "Something on your mind?"

"I was wondering if you happened to also inherit Father's Magic Crest... I see not." If he had absorbed enough Grail corruption to be so quickly fatal, Avalon or not, it was probably a lost cause.

"Can you tell me something about him?" he asked. "When I was younger I thought Taiga knew him rather well, but apparently his main contact was with her grandfather, and they understandably were doing things his granddaughter was better off not knowing."

"Such as?" By the feel of it, though she apparently had a much larger magical energy reservoir in the form of her Bounded Field, Caster had a much better control over their link, compared to Berserker's rather wild and oftentimes jarring draws from her. _Not that handling him was a problem for me though._

"What was he fighting in the previous War for?"

 _Straightforward enough._ "Attempting to make a world without conflict."

"I see. That would have been a good use of a wish."

Her laugh was anything but mirth. "If the Grail hadn't been corrupted, perhaps. No, even then it is possible that our world-branch would have simply gotten pruned. Same with any world in which Camelot did not fall, according to Gilgamesh."

Shirou paused for a moment. "What's 'getting pruned' like?"

"You just no longer exist, I assume. However, keep in mind it doesn't have to be as extreme as that, most branches are apparently pruned because the World only keeps so many around, and they multiply far above that number in between prunings. In a sense, more people end by their branch being pruned than dying 'normally'."

"So it is doubly impossible to save everyone."

She frowned upon hearing the implied question. "Ironically, no. Just that World will always pick a branch in which you didn't. The distinction is where Gilgamesh and his friends back in the Throne come in; anyone or anything able to cause trouble across obvious critical fixed points in history might break reality itself. If they somehow _ever_ succeed anytime, anywhere, the whole system might cease to function."

He thought for a moment. "Even with a Chaldea, whatever that is, you wouldn't be able to cover all the branches simultaneously."

"Actually, the Grail and Throne are consistent across all branches. Utilizing Servant summoning might work, as there might be one of them but as many Chaldeas as there were branches with them. Or we form it once and all branches that come from us will be preserved by the World to protect itself."

Shirou nodded. "Seems odd that being the ones stuck inside would be an advantage, but I guess this is analogous to a defensive action."

The homunculus scrutinized him while adding, "Though that means that we might have to ensure that unfortunate events like wars or civilization collapse occur 'on schedule'. Would you be fine with that?"

He noticed this and simply shrugged. "It's the World's fault for 'deciding' that such things are absolutely necessary. Unless you are implying there's an alternative."

Illya kept her tone neutral. "There's space outside of, or straddling, the branches. If you could get there, you might escape from the rule of the World. If you had the ability to construct a whole nation there, anyway. It's odd, but then again attaining the Root or various religions around enlightenment have surface similarities. Yes I know, no one is hosting parties at the Root, or likely Nirvana, but Heroic Spirits do still do stuff in the Throne."

"What." Shirou's expression sharpened. "Is that what Caster suggested to you?"

"No, just thinking aloud. But I'd like to see the look on that smug Archer's face if we pulled it off. He tried to pull one over Lancer by telling her that Camelot's fall was never avoidable. Father got that one back by pointing out that a wide range of outcomes could quality, so it meant striving for the best of those was not wasted. In many ways it felt like the two of them were really the ones at odds, with Lancer being more of a bystander."

"Sounds like a wonderful conversation partner," he snorted as Medusa appeared with Sakura in tow. Shirou's momentary confusion was probably over the fact that Rider was wearing some of Kuro's clothes rather than her armor.

"Were you looking for me?" Shirou asked quickly. Rider nodded as Sakura explained. "We should head down to the police now, after seeing the news and all."

"That would be the natural response I suppose," he said, taking her hand. "I guess Rider is coming just in case?"

"Yes." She looked vaguely unhappy about her outfit, though it passed quickly. "Though in Spirit Form to avoid complicating matters."

* * *

l

* * *

 **(Rin)**

She watched the pair leave, closing the door behind them, before turning to the swordsman next to her. "I should have done something."

Saber caught on immediately, as usual. "If it took Servants to do, I doubt you would have been able to pry her away from Matou." _Or perhaps not._

"I didn't mean something like **that**. But I honestly didn't want to disturb the life she had. That I thought she had." It was quite clear from the day's events that something big had been going on in that household and by Sakura's reaction, nothing good."

"Your best choice, had you known, would be like that homunculus; wait for a Grail War and use a Servant's strength. After all, Kuro played an important part."

"I'm a bit surprised you don't disapprove of relying on others. Would have thought that went against a warrior's honor or something."

He raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you claimed to be a warrior."

"... I guess not."

"Just as well, since you're done learning swordplay from me."

Rin paused for a moment. _Did he get tired of it?_ "I didn't know we were through."

"Doesn't Caster have everything needed for your magecraft project?" He looked at her expectantly. "I know that was your objective."

"Yes, but it doesn't mean I don't still want to..." she mumbled. "I shouldn't need a better reason than not wanting to give up."

"That's true."

They shared a moment of silence before Kuro bounced up. "I'm going to follow those two just in case. We'll practice more later, okay?" Rin and Kojirou both nodded in her direction as she disappeared.

"Tea?" Rin offered.

"I have time."

* * *

l

* * *

 **(Medusa)**

Now that they were out of the house, though there were more people around, she was able to collect her thoughts since they weren't trying to talk to, play with, or spar with her.

The last day had been like an odd dream. A wonderful one to be sure, but so much so it was almost suspiciously good, despite the closing battle. It hadn't really hit home until that morning when Sakura had asked her to look after Rin and the rest (since Kuro would be staying at home) and simply handed her Caster's uniform to wear. And they were actually a little loose on her now!

 _Ah. I should've borrowed something of hers rather than Kuro's. That Archer tricked me._

Thankfully no one really took notice of when she gave in to the urge to dance in place or hop about a bit, probably because Kuro did so. They couldn't have guessed, though perhaps Gilgamesh had, given how blase he had been about the youth potion dosage, that she had pretty much gone as far back as was possible for her, namely the 'perfect' form she had been born as.

Just like her sisters. Truer than ever, since Servants also didn't change. While Kuro and the others had understandable concerns due to, probably, not existing on the Throne, she couldn't help but wonder if Medusa-like-now could get in a second time. Or better yet, if she was truly in that perfect point, would it be possible to reach the Throne of Gods? Assuming they were there...

 _Wait._

She wasn't exactly as-born, what with holding the weapon that had actually killed her monstrous later self. Added to which, her sisters had been on a conceptual basis totally helpless, which again was untrue for her now and even when she was born. Granted, there seemed to ways around anything and everything in this world. All these complications only opened more questions.

Gilgamesh had to know. If anything, he wanted as many of them as possible to not only want to build his Chaldea idea, but also ensure he was summoned back again. Then again, even if it was all part of a scheme, he hadn't really done anything explicitly bad, had he?

" _Rider, is everything okay?_ " Sakura's telepathic voice broke into her thoughts, reminding her of the task at hand.

" _Sorry, I got distracted._ "

" _Hmm. Kuro is around, so don't be alarmed if you happen to detect a single Servant nearby._ " So she said, but actually detecting a Servant in Spirit Form was not trivial, especially if one was also in the same state. Oddly enough, it wasn't as though two Servants could engage one another like that, though a Bounded Field could block one, and even differentiate between different Servants.

" _I'll keep that in mind._ "

* * *

l

* * *

 **(Kuro)**

She wasn't quite sure what to make of her Master's connection with Saber. The man himself seemed to think she was simply looking for support from someone relatively unrelated to Sakura due to their circumstances, but that held up about as well as being _'just friends'_ in one of those romantic comedy manga. If anything though, going by the gender ratio in the house, one would easily imagine a cheap harem anime spinoff. Though, Shirou back at home actually did have a bit of that, come to think of it, despite being much younger than here.

... but here-Illya was another case. Most likely, the reason she couldn't live past twenty was all the modifications the Einzbern had done. Sadly ironic, since Kuro had gotten a much more massive boost from Magical Ruby. But that wouldn't help Illya at this point, since the Mystic Code couldn't simply add to her now-diminished lifespan.

"Excuse me," a nearby woman said while adjusting her hat, prompting Kuro to move to the side a bit. Wait a minute... _I'm in Spirit Form, how?_

"Show yourself," she continued, looking right at her location where they were on an isolated rooftop. "What are you up to?" **Ruler!**

"I'm not up to anything," she protested, quickly materializing. "Sak- er, Matou is going to the police because her house blew up."

"Oh, that. Fair enough. Your handiwork, I take it?" Kuro simply nodded, since it appeared Ruler had already investigated the incident. "I'll say; Try not to make more work for me, but I should also thank you for dealing with Zouken."

"I didn't know the Church had it in for him." She wasn't really familiar with Zouken, though it seemed he was far from harmless in this world.

"I didn't say it did, Rulers serve the Holy Grail."

"Er, ok. Can I go? Not that I distrust your no-hostilities thing, but I was busy."

"Go. I was doing something sim- Hmph." Kuro had already left. Ruler looked up at where her friend was circling far overhead. "A clean battle would be good, for once."

* * *

l

* * *

 **(Shirou)**

As expected, he was largely ignored when they reached the local police station. However, he did catch a brief exchange between the Sakura and an officer, where the latter complained (whole explaining) about how some specialist counter-terrorism unit had 'requested' the Matou house be undisturbed once any rescue and firefighting efforts had ended, while she made understanding sounds.

 _It seems the Church had someone step up to Kotomine's role pretty quick._

Shirou frowned while looking at some of the shops outside. Even though he had said it earlier, it would take a fool to not see that he was more likely to end up being protected by Sakura than the other way around.

 _Well, even more reason to try and improve myself._ Naturally, the thing that came to mind was to ask Saber, but...

" _That's not an ideal choice,_ " he explained after a moment. " _There's a reason humans use firearms. But more importantly, you don't have 'inventories' like Servants and your Realm's Armory access is limited outside your home._ "

That made sense, actually. In many scenarios, actually being armed would be impractical. **Wait.** A flash of inspiration hit him. " _How hard is using Kuro's style?_ "

There was only silence in response. Shirou started as someone tapped him on the shoulder. "Eh? Oh, it's you." With uncanny timing, Kuro had appeared next to him while he was distracted. The two of them strolled around a nearby corner where they were soon joined by Medusa, though she quickly disappeared again to follow Sakura when he told her she was still in the station.

"Honestly, you'd be better off learning something like Gandr," the Archer explained, having been caught up by Rin apparently. "However, I have a hunch that you'll take to the weapon-projection system."

"Really... perhaps the version of me in your world used that?" That certainly would change matters, since learning and use of magecraft had to do with details like Elements and Origins, which would probably be similar between them.

"Yeah," she replied simply before falling into an uncomfortable silence. "Ah, well, he was also adopted by Father. So that onii-chan really was my brother..."

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to- wait _what_ are you-?" Shirou watched warily as Kuro sidled up to him with a grin that did not hide her intentions at all.

"Quit that," Medusa grabbed Kuro from behind, as Shirou backed into Sakura, who had been following her Servant. "Oh, there you ar-" For a span of time just long enough for him to notice it, Sakura seemed as immovable as a wall - and then they toppled over.

"Lucky pervert," Kuro mumbled, unheard, while shaking off Rider. Due to Medusa distracting her, she hadn't noticed that rather than freezing or trying to push Shirou, Sakura had instead grabbed hold of him, making their fall inevitable by preventing him from recovering his balance.

"Are you alright?" she asked with some concern as he got to his feet.

"Yes, you?" He turned around to help her up, blinking when their eyes met. _They're not black any more?_ While still significantly darker than her usual, he could clearly tell that they were a purple color, though it wasn't obvious what that meant.

Sakura colored under his scrutiny, and he realized that he might have been staring. _Not that she seems to mind._ "I take it we're done here?" he prompted her.

"Yes, let's head back."

As they made the trip back, he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the 'other' him which had caused Kuro such distress. _It clearly wasn't just being separated._ Perhaps he was always going to get into one dangerous spot or another.


	62. Summons in the Dark

**Summons in the Dark**

* * *

l

* * *

Hmm...it was not by my hand that I am once again given flesh. Such a simulacra as it is anyway. Copied out once again to fight yet another unholy Grail War, I can only assume suppose mankind still needs a Master such as me.

Let's take stock. First off, what am I wearing? Ah, it seems to be yet _another_ school uniform; that's not a good sign. I am currently in a church which, according to the Grail (don't trust it overmuch even when there **isn't** a last boss-type kouhai character hacking it) is on Earth in the past. Approximately a quarter of a century which is odd, since that implies I have appeared on the other side of a Quantum Timelock. To be more specific, this is the Fifth Holy Grail War of Fuyuki, Japan, Earth, 2005.

No choice of companion, given that she's already here, if slacking off by pretending to have fallen asleep while casually leaning on me, "Casko."

"Yes~ what can your devoted wife do for you today?"

I lightly chop her head to emphasize the seriousness of our situation. "Get. To. Work." For some reason, this War has progressed from a simple one Master-one Servant affair into a team battle. My specialty, perhaps. However, rather than rogue or stray Servants wandering about to be recruited, we need Tamamo to actually summon a Servant. Specifically a Saber, and possibly why she's avoiding it.

Looking about, the rather garish use of colors and undersized furnishings suggest the room we are standing in is used by children. Fortunately there's plenty of room for a proper magic circle.

* * *

Several hours passed as Tamamo put together the design given by the Grail. The need seemed odd to the two of them, given that they had already been summoned, but this was answered when the last details had been put in place.

The circle lit up, even though neither of them had even begin passing magical energy through the formation. "It must be coming directly from the Grail," Caster whispered, taking out her mirror and a stack of charms. Preparations that were all too prudent given that soon after, the circle faded back into its de-energized state as a Servant signature appeared somewhere else in the church.

"We might have been tricked," her Master replied evenly. "But if there's supposed to be teams, they are hopefully an ally Servant."

"An astute guess," a voice spoke up from the other side of the room's only door. The speaker kept themselves out of view, despite their claim of being a friend rather than foe.

"Forgive my Master's caution, but we weren't informed the Grail intended to use our circle to directly summon other Servants." Though not directly offensive in nature, her mirror floated to stand between her and the door.

"It is the privilege of the forgiven to be able to forgive," he said, showing himself fearlessly. Dressed richly with the clear trappings of a priest, he nevertheless presented a figure armed with a Japanese sword and Black Keys. _Not an ordinary priest_ , was the thought of the two facing him. "Who might you be, Master who looks like a Servant?"

"Me? Francis Xavier, Master. At your service."

He nodded briefly, putting away his weapons. "Amakusa Shiro Tokisada, Rider. Please do not worry about my Master; as he was indisposed, I am currently using his corpse."

"Just a hunch, but he wouldn't happen to have been a priest named Kotomine Kirei? Though your hair and complexion are the opposite of him... maybe that was rude of me."

Amakusa leaned in the doorway, keeping an eye back out towards the church's main entrance. "I didn't know the man, and his body had decomposed somewhat before I was summoned into it, so any similarities to a priest you know elsewhere are likely coincidental."

"Oh it was mostly your choice of weapons," Tamamo motioned towards his left hand, which had held the Black Keys. "That's because this priest had used them. The sword is mine, though. Might I ask your name?"

"Can't you tell by these fox ears, fluffy tail, and cute uniform? I'm the high school Servant Sukuza G-"

" _What are you doing?!_ " We were definitely not in the position to garner any ill-will, so I stepped in. "Caster, Tamamo. I hope you two can work together."

"Indeed, let us unite for a greater goal, the Grail," he replied solemnly as though it was nothing out of the ordinary. Well, as a priest perhaps he would think differently about the Grail. That thing is quite a disappointment often enough, though.

" _I was just wondering if, as a Saint, he might have the ability to identify Servants on sight. But it seems like he doesn't, since he didn't react to either of us._ "

" _Perhaps, but it was a risk for you, since I'm not potential threat._ "

"Have you given a thought to our team composition?" Amakusa prompted us after the silence had dragged on for a while.

"There are a couple of red Sabers that might show up," I shrug. "Honestly, we lack real control over who will answer our call. At least, its guaranteed to be a Servant of the right class."

"I guess there's nothing but to roll for it," Tamamo concluded, turning back to the circle. Some pink petals fell out of her sleeves as she began feeding energy into the circle. "Come forth, our fated guardian of the balance!"

The flash of light the usually accompanied a successful summoning condensed into our group's third Servant, a young woman wearing a pink old-style kimono with a sword.

* * *

l

* * *

(Shinji)

 **I really thought he was going to kill me!**

After I had told that small Servant boy everything I knew about Grandfather's actions in the War, which wasn't much, that priest only waited long enough for him to confirm it before simply ordering, "dispose of him." In retrospect, it shouldn't have been surprising, given that Sakura thought well of the two of them, and look what she did to me...

When Gilgamesh pinned me to the ground and took out that syringe, it was pretty obvious that he was about to put me down like a dog. But-

The room I awakened in some time later seemed to have been the site of a bloody fight, and ransacked besides. There was a magic circle, much like the one used to summon Rider, on the floor, somewhat damaged. Unusual as that was, it wasn't the primary thing that concerned Shinji at that moment. Rather, the clearly-a-Servant woman who had been waiting patiently for him to rouse commanded his attention.

"Kotomine is dead. If you still wish to fight, arrangements have been made in the Fuyuki church." She tapped the end of her long staff on the ground. No, rather it looked like a cross between a crucifix and a weapon.

 _An unexpected offer._ Could it be a trick? Perhaps. On the other hand, it wouldn't make sense to bother with such a game either. He sat up and looked her straight in the eye. "You will need to give me a bit more to go on than that."

"Ruler, Martha. I am currently administering the Holy Grail War as the late Overseer abandoned his post. It is the Grail's invitation to you, as a Master."

 _Ruler?_ That jogged his memory somewhat. Grandfather had been worried that one would detect his, interventions, in the War. _If even he was worried, I'm not going to hang on his account._ "If you know all that, clearly you can find another Master. I'm not a magus, right?"

"I already asked another, but all she said was, 'But I refuse,' and left Fuyuki. I can certainly still make other arrangements, but as you exercised a Command Spell previously, you are still in line. Yes, even if, as I know, the means was less than fully orthodox."

 _If it is **that** Martha, and the Holy Grail is real, perhaps that means the magi are wrong about god. Either that or old-fashioned karma._ There was no better way to get back at that girl and Rider than having a Servant, properly his own, to take them down. Reversals were common in war, after all.

With that hope in mind, Shinji prepared his next words carefully. "Things have clearly changed, then. What are the terms of battle?"

"This special phase is a team battle. Four Servants on each side. One side wins when all listed opposing Masters and Servants are dead. Survivors make a unanimous list of wishes, granted all at once, or subject to resubmission."

His eyebrows raised at one particular condition. "Even Masters? That's different."

"Not my decision. Even Masters." She repeated with a tone of indifference.

"I'll fight."

Ruler closed her eyes for a moment and nodded. "Since you seem slightly 'under the weather', it should be fair to use a healing miracle on you. But you should make your way to the church on your own. However, there is still sufficient time left of ceasefire for that."

As she began the procedure for the miracle, a thought occurred to her patient of the moment. "Can I ask a random question?"

"I might be able to answer."

"You're a Saint, does that mean heaven actually exists?"

"Hoh. I actually was summoned from the Throne of Heroes, though perhaps there's an original Martha in heaven. Who can say?"

* * *

l

* * *

(Francis Xavier, aka Hakuno Kishinami)

Hakuno turned to Tamamo, who was positively glowing with satisfaction at her achievement. "Why couldn't you have summoned a hot guy?"

She pouted. "If that's what you really want, I can take care of it, you know? But wait, no my dream was to be a faithful wife... ah. You're teasing me aren't you?!"

"Yes, if you meant I wasn't being serious. No, if you meant I was trying to flirt with you."

Tamamo glanced at Amakusa, who was watching their exchange expressionlessly. "Thank goodness you're a priest. Anyway, could you introduce yourself please?" she returned to the swordswoman who had just joined them.

"Oh! Shinsengumi's first unit's captain, Okita Souji. Are you my Master? Or are you?"

"Ahem. Properly speaking I am your Master, and she is my Master," Caster explained, looking her over absentmindedly. "You should have a particular banner Noble Phantasm, yes?"

"Eh? My haori? Oh, you mean the **(Flag of Sincerity)**." The Saber looked about as though it would be somehow lying near her, before it appeared in her hand. "I don't know how many it can summon, though. Due to the magical energy use...?"

Hakuno looked askance at her. "Ok, so Caster summons a Saber, who can summon even more Servants?"

Tamamo took up the explanation, probably because she had read up on it. "They are much weaker than any regularly summoned Servant, without Noble Phantasms, but of course they shouldn't simply be charged in like an expendable Attack Program in the first place."

Okita rested the flag on her shoulder. "Well some of us might want to charge regardless. But I assure you we are a disciplined fighting force. *cough*?!"

"Ah."

"Ah."

Everyone present froze as Saber coughed up a small, but noticeable amount of blood. "It's... that, isn't it?" Hakuno muttered to her Servant quietly.

"I can do something about it," Tamamo frowned. "Though I wanted to save it for us, a charm made with my Fox's Wedding should be able to provide temporary... symptomatic relief."

"How temporary?" Okita asked with great interest.

"Maybe an hour? Enough for a battle."

"A Great Victory!" she pumped a fist in excitement, about the time that Amakusa broke in. "I think the last Master has arrived."

The church doors opened slowly, making just enough sound to be heard by the Servants inside.

* * *

l

* * *

 **Notes:**

Pretty much what happened is Ruler was maintaining the church's wards, while rather crudely summoning Hakuno and Tamamo, so that the latter could do the magecraft work to more efficiently summon the following three Servants.


	63. Circling the Wagons

**Circling the Wagons**

* * *

"Unfortunately I am not familiar with either the Contender or Calico," Caster was frowning, deep in thought as Shirou and his group returned home.

"What's that about? Cats?" asked Medusa with some interest.

"Sadly no, firearms." Illya replied, looking up as Kuro, last in, closed the door behind them.

The Archer caught on immediately. "Nine millimeter, automatic, roller-delayed blowback. High-capacity helical magazines. One of Father's favorites."

"Helical? Really, didn't humans mostly give up on that design by now?" Sasaku looked up as Kuro placed something in front of her. "Huh?"

"Calico." The weapon wasn't the main thing on her mind though. "I checked the distances you wanted, there's no problem."

The Caster touched a finger to the weapon momentarily before picking it up. "Do Archers magically get to ignore wind effects even for indirect fire?"

"Do you know how much films have told modern people you can practically snipe with indirect arrow trajectories? I think I can hit a church."

"Well, it is larger than a barn," Rin quipped, prompting a chuckle from Saber. She had been sitting next to Sasaku, with him opposite her. Illya was across from the Caster.

"Can you explain what is going on?" Shirou looked warily at the Servant handling the gun. Though it was clearly a Projection, that made it, if anything, more dangerous than one of mundane manufacture.

"It's unloaded," she reassured him. "With respect to your questions to Saber, I was wondering if any of the homunculi happened to know the use of modern weaponry. However, Einzbern training curricula don't seem to include it."

"That's because they have ones more powerful than most magi," Rin explained. "Not saying that your idea was bad, just understand that most families, especially older ones, don't feel a need for alternatives to magecraft."

"And yet Father's personal killcount of magecraft-users with bullets and explosives is probably some sort of record," Illya shrugged before glancing at Kuro. "Well yours would have been even higher since there was no Fourth Grail War and he continued, er, working."

"Yes. Though I don't understand; bullets can't harm Heroic Spirits."

Putting down some of the groceries that she had picked up on the way back, Sakura turned back to join everyone at the table. "Right, but after those 'upgrades' to her spears, I'm guessing that bullets made by a Caster and then improved with Reinforcement and appropriate runes would. But you're thinking more of combating human magi."

"Good guess. Runes of banishing, or perhaps to pierce magecrafts, I don't know what exactly Father used though. Kuro, do you know?"

"Sorry, no."

* * *

After dinner, the group returned to preparations for the next day's (likely) battle, turning their attentions to a rough map of the Emiya estate.

Sasaku drew a fingertip down the corridor joining the courtyard to the living room area, which had various bedrooms and store rooms coming off it. "With the walls Reinforced, these two main chokepoints remain," she explained, pointing out first the rather weak courtyard access door. "Saber will be best in this open area, while this end of the corridor should be perfect for Rider."

"And Kuro on top?" Rider asked. "If we're even that means someone could be ganged up on by three enemies."

"While the walls will prevent even Spirit Form-ing through she can just teleport. The enemies will at best be able to gang up on one of the two of you, at which point the other and Kuro will go around or above and get them in rear."

"That's still three-on-three." Saber pointed out reasonably enough. "It isn't as though Servants, of all people, would suffer from shock _or_ awe at being flanked.

"Kuro has exploding sword-arrows, and can get them in the back. But if they've indeed been lured into this Realm, then you'll also be fighting with whatever strengthening magecrafts I can give you."

"It's party buffs, isn't it?" Kuro bounced excitedly. "You need to buff up everyone before tackling the raid dungeon."

"Um. Yes." Rin couldn't help but grin at the rather weak reply that Kuro recieved.

"In any case, leaving aside the bedrooms next to the kitchen (Shirou's) and living room, as well as those storage rooms facing the courtyard, and those facing towards the church leaves my room and the one next to it. The Masters, except Illya, and I will be in the first, and she with her eight maids will be in the second one as our reserves.

"I like how no one seems to mind that my home is going to get wrecked," Shirou half-objected, more to lay it out than anything else. "It's your idea, I am going to make you repair it, Caster."

"If that comes to pass I will consider it a delightful task," she replied soberly. He simply nodded.

* * *

"Yes, it seems this World loves its special cases," Sasaku nodded to Illya while passing a sealed letter to Sakura as the latter got up to follow Shirou, who was apparently turning in early since the maids were already on the cleanup.

"A lot comes down to knowing which ones apply and how to gain an advantage. But we're not really doing that here," her current Master said.

"Enough of all that speculating, shouldn't you get some practice while we can?" Seeing an opportunity, Kuro jumped in.

"Hmm... I suppose so," Caster accepted the large sword that Kuro held out for her. "Thanks, I should at least be able to take on another Caster with this."

Saber shrugged as the three servants (and Illya, and Rin) went out to the courtyard. "I'd say your chances are probably rather good, since you actually know how to use that. Unless said Caster is someone like, who was that again?"

"Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus?" Kuro replied. "It would be bad to meet someone like him, though if they were summoned I think Kojirou would probably be their opponent."

"Leysritt, Sella, come along, would you? And take your halberd."

"Aww, I wanted to have a go," Kuro pouted.

"Let's not pretend that she'd have a chance at anything besides being played around with by you," Rin poked Kuro's shoulder.

"Oh, she's not that terrible," Kojirou corrected her. "Just really outclassed stats-wise by Knight classes."

"That's basically saying the same thing." Standing in the middle of the courtyard, Sasaku raised the sword, taking a point-down stance with both hands above her head, experimentally making a few cuts with a little footwork. "Actually Kuro, the balance on this is about perfect. I knew you could pull it off."

"Hoh, well I didn't want to blow my own horn too much," she grinned.

"Right. You two attack her at the same time," Illya directed the pair who were standing side-by-side facing her Servant. With the barest of nods each in acknowledgment, they sprang into action.

* * *

Lunging forward directly, Leysritt thrust the point of her halberd forward, but it was caught by a defensive cut from Sasaku's weapon. The homunculus immediately reversed course, bringing her weapon back and shortening the grip as her opponent tried, and failed, to close in past the point.

"Hmph!" Switching to a sweeping motion, the halberd was aimed towards the weak of the defending sword, in order to either catch it in the complex head or perhaps sweep it aside to create an opening for a punishing reverse cut.

Ducking while otherwise maintaining the same high-handed posture, Sasaku rotated her weapon, lowering the grip end while the point came up, leaving the whole thing momentarily parallel to the ground as she thrust toward, aiming to snipe Leysritt's forward hand.

Rotating her halberd about its shaft, the homunculus caught the advancing point with the moving flat of her axe blade, deflecting it enough to allow a quick withdrawal, hands untouched.

At this point, Sella who had simply been moving around to Sasaku's flank began shooting several Gandr in order to provide some cover, and forestall another closing action by the Servant. However, the magical bullets simply ran into a number of daggers which appeared, were struck, absorbed or deflected the magical energy, and then disappeared.

The two attackers made brief eye contact before pressing forward. Deciding to concentrate on a single, more powerful spell, Sella tried to reposition outside of Sasaku's line of sight. In order to get the full use of her weapon's range, Leysritt moved both her hands towards the end, more like one of Lu Bu's stances that he used to set up for wide sweeps, though in this case she wanted to also use the polearm's unbalanced weight distribution as a second advantage.

Given that her opponent was shorter than her and had just previously ducked to further exploit this difference in height, she opted for a roughly waist level sweeping cut, this time using her waist for greater power in the cross.

Seeing the attack coming, Sasaku changed to an awkward single-handed grip, freeing her left hand as the weapon curved in towards her. Pulling a spear out from the Armory into her hand, she drove the point into the ground such that the shaft caught the incoming blow. The weapon, however, was unable to withstand the impact and was neatly sliced through, much to the surprise of the onlookers.

Leysritt's halberd caught its target in a perfect bind, taking the sword along on its journey. At this moment, Sella shot a concentrated fireball at Sasaku, who had just been disarmed. Like before, several daggers interposed themselves, but the flames were not a solid object, and simply passed through and around them.

A sudden blast of wind blew out from where Caster stood in Sella's direction sending the gathered flames scattering into a large shower that seemed to explode for no reason, sending blinding sparks and smoke out in every direction. The homunculus raised a hand, sending a jet of flame right towards the last location of her target, but stumbled and fell as Sasaku, coming in low with a slide-kick, took her off her feet.

Before she could rise, a long shimmering green dagger was pressed against her throat. "You're out."

Rolling off her fallen opponent, Sasaku blew more sparks in Leysritt's direction while returning to her fallen weapon now that the halberd-wielder had rushed over to her friend. The sword simply jumped up as though possessed, as its owner took hold of it in the same point-down stance as before.

"Aah," Rin commented at this point. "She was actually waiting for Sella to circle her, since that meant the two of them couldn't support one another as easily."

"I apologize," Sella said, joining the observers. "It seems she has much better peripheral awareness than expected."

Kuro shook her head. "She actually has extra-sensory perception inside this Realm. It's likely she was hoping you would try to catch her off-guard, like Rin thinks."

"Well, magi and Casters are usually stronger inside their Bounded Fields," Illya said in a neutral tone. "But Leysritt should be stronger than a Servant with low Strength rating, right?"

"Most likely," Saber agreed. "However, you'll notice that Caster seems to be baiting her attacks out. And- oh that's unfair."

Leysritt had moved on the attack, but didn't notice several spears lying on the ground in front of Sasaku, who kicked them into her path, abandoning her sword for the second time so far in favor of pouncing with the dagger. However, in a surprising reversal, Leysritt, back on the ground, swept Sasaku's legs out from under her.

Caster went flying, dagger still held point down. Rather than try to avoid, the homunculus whipped a leg back around hitting the weapon arm as the two collided. Discarding the dagger, Sasaku tried to grapple Leysritt, but the latter elbowed her sharply in the chin before slamming the Servant into the ground. There was a moment of silence as the two rolled away from one another and got to their feet.

At first Illya thought the exchange was mostly a draw, until noticing that the Caster happened to be standing on her opponent's halberd. A moment later, Sasaku's sword flew up into her hands.

"Leysritt did well on the ground, but letting go of her when they were both disarmed wasn't ideal when she can pick up or take out weapons at will," Sella summed up their thoughts.

"Well, it isn't just a matter of brute statistics, otherwise Berserkers would be unbeatable," Illya agreed. "But it's really more that you two don't have the equivalent of Skills on the level of a Servant. That's would probably still have made the difference even if you had a bit more strength or speed."

"You hardly used the sword," Kuro groused as Leysritt raised her empty hands, ending the impromptu match.

"And took an impressive body-slam," Saber added with a chuckle. "Did Lu Bu also teach them wrestling?"

"Well, let me think about what he covered in the time we had..."

* * *

l


	64. Shadow Unforgotten

**Shadow Unforgotten**

* * *

"Alright, I wanna have a go!" Kuro jumped to her feet.

"No. Sword-testing is done. Besides, I have more to do." Taking out a number of scabbards, Sasaku carefully slid her new weapon into one. Less to protect its edge, as she winced upon noticing that the weapon seemed likely to cut through its 'protection' than anything else.

"I wonder if Lancer would have made a closer match, since she uses a similar weapon ... oh you need my help for that?" Illya took the pencil and notebook that her Caster handed over. "If everyone would write down their names in full, please. In whatever your native script is, as well. And your eight maids, too."

"Even them?" Rin looked up in surprise as Illya started writing. "Mind me asking what all this is for?"

"I'll be carrying out a pair of pseudo-formalcraft rituals before tomorrow's battle. I saw 'pseudo' because rather than using ambient mana, it will draw directly from the energies still stored in the Realm, bypassing my own magical circuit limitations. Thus for our side, I will be setting up a, hm, monument of sorts."

"Is there a reason the others need it too?" Saber didn't look particularly interested in the ritual itself, but at least didn't seem to object to it.

"They need it even more to avoid being collateral damage when enemy Servants bust in here. Which they will, if things go as planned."

* * *

l

* * *

 **(Sakura)**

"It'll all come to a head tomorrow, won't it?" Sakura asked, sliding the letter she had been given for safekeeping into Shirou's table. Without saying a word, since none was needed, he came up behind her, extending a hand as Sakura turned around to face him. At first, she thought that he was going to pat her head or something similar, since he had with Archer or Medusa (current form). Caster though, only once and her obvious condescending amusement annoyed him enough that he didn't try a second time.

As a result, my breath caught as his fingers instead slowly and deliberately closed on the hair ribbon I was wearing, instead. There was a brief sound of weapons clashing outside as the Servants practiced their skills, but it sounded muted compared to my own heartbeat as Shirou slowly pulled on the ribbon until it came undone in his hand. The hair that it had been clinging to swayed for a moment, freed.

"..."

Shirou slowly moved away backwards without breaking eye contact until he had to turn, laying the ribbon carefully across the head portion of the room's bed. Neither side said anything for a while - no words were necessary. Sakura let out a breath that she hadn't been aware of holding.

"Since it isn't a matter of, do we have to, it's one of do we want to," he said simply.

"Um, even after everything since yesterday, if you're still fine wi-" She cut off as he slowly shook his head.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'. And yes. Come." That was it.

 _And then we made love. It was rather, how to put it, pedestrian, standard, vanilla, not really the most technical or demanding engagement. But as a simple and perhaps physically-direct shared experience, it was what we needed and certainly wanted at that moment._

What **I** certainly wanted.

...

 _That wasn't just... a fantasy while I lay under someone else... not this time._ Sakura blinked, looking around at the all-too-familiar view from her narrow bed in her room in the Matou house. A house that she remembered having seen burning fiercely on the newscast.

Almost timidly, she stepped outside, making her way down. Pausing at the sight of the door to the basement standing open; a rarity. Sakura clenched a fist in realization. _Could Grandfather have yet another trick?_

Prepared for a third battle, she defiantly made her way down, daring her opponent to take note of the sound of their stairs under her weight. But at the bottom, the area which she had warned even the Servants about entering without preempting the dangers of with a great deal of firepower, was empty.

 _Not quite._ There was a sound from **that** pit in front of her. Like a sloshing of something wet. Wary of a possible trap or distraction, Sakura carefully approached, checking around her with each step before carefully peeking in from a safe distance from the lip.

A moment of horror at what she saw was followed by a loud splash that echoed through the area as she jumped in. _Anyone but him!_

In a panic, Sakura beat wildly at the small school of crest worms that, like fish being fed, were swarming around the slumped form of her lover. They fled, probably more in surprise than fear, leaving her time to haul him up and out of the pit, dripping a trail of whatever warm viscous liquid had been pooling there.

"Ah, Sakura." Shirou stirred as she began looking over his naked form for any injuries. "How unexpected."

"Are you alright? Did they bite you anywhere?" They did, after all, have a bit of an appetite for male flesh.

"No." He paused to blink at the sight of the two of them splattered in the same stuff. "They were just, er, saying thanks."

"For what?"

"Feeding them. Any idea why?" Sitting up as she dropped down next to him, Shirou watched Sakura wordlessly examine the liquid on her fingers in lieu of answering.

"They can survive off sexual stimulation as well as magical energy," she said at last.

"I guess that means I did a better job than I thought..." he paused. "But I see you have other thoughts."

"I don't know..." It was the first time with him since taking over their 'familar contract', but remembering what she had heard about succubi and incubi, the latter subsisted off emotions, especially from women. "I just remembered your Caster asking if magical girls could turn friendship into energy."

"So, you mean... love? Why would you think it was something like that?"

Sakura froze.

"Listen, our first time together... wasn't my first... but I can see you already guessed that," she sighed. _Obviously he would have noticed, after all._ Even if he fainted afterwards.

Shirou waited for her to continue.

"It wasn't who you think. Or rather, what." _This_ gave him visible pause. Then, after a moment of realization, he pointed sideways into the shallow pool she had dragged him out of.

"Yes. Not them specifically,though."

"I see."

They simply sat silent. "It really is you, isn't it?" Sakura asked after a while of this, a different sort of unease creeping up on her,

"I suppose so," he replied. "Or my imagination has become very dark. Why?"

"You shouldn't be here," she got to her feet, looking about. "We can't have the same dream."

"Why not? Though it's awkward to say, I've seen some of Caster's dreams."

Sakura swallowed nervously. "Because we're not linked like that. Or we shouldn't be. You need to wake up. **Now.** Call Saber for help."

"I don't... oh you mean th-" Shirou cut off as he abruptly disappeared. Sakura exhaled in relief as her legs gave way.

* * *

 _Rider, are you there?_ No response. At least Shirou was safe.

"Sis, are you there?" Experimentally, she called out to the Servant who should certainly be with her, since this was after all a mental landscape. Though she was a pretty good copy of the Caster who was now her magecraft teacher, this one apparently was more minded of a sibling. Younger one, that is. Or perhaps actually, it was more that Sakura wanted her that way?

 _There she is._ "You know you only need to use your will to speak with me, right?" The figure sitting a few feet from her, dangling her legs over the side of the pit, raised an eyebrow at the sight of her host walking up to her. "Do I even want to know what was going on?"

Wordlessly, Sakura kicked her off her perch with, fittingly enough, a simple act of will that reached across the distance. Flailing in surprise for the briefest of moments, Sasaku fell face-first into the pool and was jumped on by its playful inhabitants.

"Shoo! I don't have anything good to feed you with!" Watching her try to beat them away before recovering herself and simply jumping out in a leap, Sakura practically laughed to see the Caster was now thoroughly drenched, though in another situation, it would have been a rather terrifying sight.

"I see," Sasaku said thoughtfully, snapping her fingers absentmindedly as the liquid nearly leapt off her clothes and hair, forming a growing puddle at her feet. "It's your blood."

"They live in my body, I guess that fits well enough."

"You need better backgrounds than this. By the way, it seems you are burning quite a lot of the magical energy that you just, uh, received from Shirou."

That last bit caught her attention. _I must have been running low after all of today's magecraft. But I didn't even feel the usual urges._ "Wait. Right now? But that shouldn't -" Sakura blinked. "If Saber already roused him, why hasn't Rider woken me up yet?

Sasaku moved a bit closer, with a small smile. "She can't from outside, I guess." And slapped Sakura across the face.

* * *

"Sis, you jerk!" Sakura flinched backwards instinctively, nearly knocking over the much smaller Rider who was holding onto her arms, trying to shake her awake. "Uh, what?"

Saber was holding back Shirou near the door of the room, while on the other side, Rider and her Master were standing in what looked in a dark cloud filling about half of the space, though she could see through it with no issue.

"You don't have a younger sister," Shirou said in confusion at that exclamation rather than the situation as a whole. About this time, Caster poked her head in the door before blocking the way in.

 _What just happened... did I do?_


	65. Recapitulation

**Recapitulation**

* * *

 **(Shirou)**

"What have you kids been up to?" Sasaku asked with the neutrality of one inquiring about the time. Saber, noticing her, grabbed the blanket off Shirou's bed and draped it about it around him. Taking her cue from him, Medusa took out her cloak for Sakura in turn. Shirou noted, in some distraction, that apparently the ear-like protrusions in Rider's hood were a permanent fixture. Which made sense since Medusa didn't have ears or anything else that rose above her hair.

"I-I did something, but I don't know what. I didn't mean to..." Sakura trailed off as Caster pointed at her, no it was the wall behind her. "That wall is quite close to the other, outer wall, that forms the boundary of the estate. That in turn limits the extent of the Realm's Bounded Field, and while it is facing away from Fuyuki Church, I would rather not have a weak spot there."

"By the way," Shirou jumped in. "You said my room is in the center of the estate, but it isn't actually in the center. I also don't get why you made your preparations next door."

"It's a conceptual sense of center," she replied. "Since you now come to my room to consult me, that is now the center. It's like how the world as a globe has a geometric center, but if a location is closer to the _gods_ , the _other side_ , or what-have-you, that might be the center of the world."

Coughing as though to clear her throat, Caster blew softly at the mist still hanging over the back half of the room. Sakura started, but nothing happened immediately, though after a while the mist seemed to fold in on itself before settling into her.

"Why didn't you do anything earlier?" Saber sent the sharp question her way, but Sasaku raised an eyebrow in return. "I don't have a link to Shirou anymore, so I didn't know. Sakura has always disrupted the Field, so of course I expect a void to happen to some extent. You two-" she nodded at Rider, "-running like something had caught on fire tipped me off."

"This is your fault, isn't it?" Shirou prodded her. "I mean, most magecrafts can't be used when you're literally asleep."

"My magecraft can't do that," she retorted quietly. "I can't even analyze it, which could be extremely useful."

"It might be the combination of the two," Sakura added with some nervousness. "Ah. Like how you can make use of standard magecrafts after learning about them. This one, though, isn't shared in that way, but it can be..." She cast her eyes to the side, and Medusa abruptly tried to slide around her as she reached out for the Servant's hand, which was not covered by cloak or anything else.

Shirou groaned as the girl in front of him nervously pulled on Rider's arm, revealing that it had a pale discoloration and what looked like black veins running down from the hand. Medusa simply sighed and shook off Sakura. "It's not that big of a deal, it was like that in my earlier form, but you didn't notice since well, there were scales and I generally looked, you know."

"Shirou, your arm."

Wordlessly he pulled out his right arm from under the blanket. Nothing. Sakura wasn't taken in, though. "Your other arm."

"Hmm..." This one had looked like a few hairline cracks webbing over the forearm.

Saber examined himself, but found nothing. "I don't get it. Why the difference?"

"Rider was trying to shake me awake, for the first. The second, well, I was holding onto that one," Sakura answered simply.

"I'm wondering if maybe you two should spend the rest of the night in seper-"

"No. And you're an idiot for suggesting it." Shirou cut Caster off rather hotly. _This time it seems she does't get what's happening._ "Don't you see that makes things worse not better? As far as I can tell, the situation escalated when Saber pulled me away."

Sasaku's eyes narrowed in thought. "And I've stopped wondering. Clearly you know something I don't."

"Is that a new experience for you?"

"No," she smiled faintly. "Though you might be right on multiple fronts if it is combination of magecrafts. Since I assume Sakura has very little will to harm you. By the way, are you fully awake now?"

Sakura blinked before realizing the last question was directed at her. "Yes."

"Why don't you two take a shower first. Saber, Medusa, I'd like to take a look at you outside, if you don't mind."

"Is this really necessary?" Saber answered first. "Think about it this way; if I ignored it, **clearly** doing so will come back to bite us in the later battle. You want to make sure you're in top form, right? It won't take long if there's nothing of concern."

* * *

 **(Medusa)**

"You can't do anything about it?" she asked after the Caster had hmmed and huhed thoughtfully a few times over her.

"You might try asking Shirou for the use of his Avalon," Sasaku said finally. "It probably gave him resistance, and can probably aid recovery. I can't just dispel the effect, even on myself, if you were wondering."

"Actually I had in mind that time when she, well, not-Sakura attacked you."

Caster idly scratched at the spot on the right side of her neck. Despite her attempts, getting a magical circuit to 'regrow' had not worked. "It depends, portions that are actually taken over don't count as being me, so I can't purge the effect. Compared to that attack, though, what happened to you is mild; a bruise compared to a stab, and to Shirou probably about as little harm as could be done."

"I'm not sure, but both your and her magecrafts might be in flux. The latter especially might be a more powerful but less under her control since she just absorbed all those crest worms."

"Understandable. Jumping power levels isn't the smoothest transition." Sasaku paused to glance at Medusa sideways. "I hope you're not thinking that I was thinking of doing her in."

Rider didn't blink. "Of course not."

"She seems more shaken by it than Shirou does, which is not unexpected, I suppose."

"He's pretty sure she'd never harm him. She isn't so sure." By Medusa's guess though, being desperately anxious to not do so was probably the best way to avoid it. Though for a moment there before Sakura woke up, she had felt a sort of terror creeping up her arm. It ended when she awoke though.

"She's going to be very powerful. I know you think less of Gilgamesh's prediction than I do, but we both know there's a difference in having overwhelming power and abusing it."

"The thought of battle makes me regret, somewhat, giving up my previous form's power. I could have waited to use the potion."

Caster shook her head. "For how long? Ruler would probably have waited us out, perhaps. She must have seen you coming in with us. Remember that while Gil might have been more powerful, she might have had ways to deal with that, while even Command Spells had trouble with you."

"True. Assuming Overseer ones work on any Servant, anyway."

* * *

 **(Kuro)**

"Well that's about it," Rin's Archer told her after the conversation had ended. "Though, come to think of it, it's a little odd they would have that discussion in the living room like that."

"You do know that, even then, she could've blocked you from eavesdropping by simply wanting to or something, right?" Illya appeared next to them somehow, sitting down casually as though she had not herself been listening in on them.

"Honestly, I'd have been more worried if they had tried to keep it quiet-like," Rin shrugged. "Or perhaps they were going to share eventually but _now_ they don't need to?"

"Yeah, I've been filled in, if that's what you were asking," Illya said. "I guess my, adoptive, brother brought home a real powerhouse. Wonder what Father would think of that..."

"You know, I've been wondering about him," Kuro decided to satisfy a question that had puzzled her. "It's hard to believe he had a running discussion with the King of Heroes on life philosophies, in the midst of a Grail War."

"They didn't really converse directly. It wasn't even that Lancer carried messages beyond a couple of one-liners. Really, they were both trying to convince her of their particular ideas, two conversations that overlapped. What really worries me is that Caster seems to agree with him in part, and it's going to be a problem if he actually does come back."

This seemed to intrigue Kuro. "Oh. How so?" The, uh, little one isn't as bad as the older one, but I'd hardly see Sasaku agreeing with either."

"It's the details, right? He has this idea that everyone should serve the king, and since he's the ultimate king, everyone should serve him. She agrees, but has another king in mind. He knows this."

"He knows that?" Rin blinked at the thought. Her father hadn't the easiest time dealing with his Archer, and by the looks of it Kirei went into their contract with more tools but got handled even more deftly by the boy. Except at the end, or perhaps even at the end.

"Doubtless, since she pretty much, no exactly, said it to his face."

"That seems unlikely, since he hasn't, you know, killed her." Kuro seemed a bit less doubtful of her statement than would have been comforting.

"I wondered about that too. Well, he must figure he has a way to keep her collared or will before it becomes an issue. Who knows if he finds her a useful tool, or wants a rare trophy, or a challenge or something else. It's possible the two of them have their own weird game of a relationship."

Rin thought for a moment. "Is that your guess or hers?"

"Hers." Illya laughed for a moment. "All that aside though, it is odd they assumed that those magecraft systems can interact that way."

"How so?" Kuro watched as several of the maids took the opportunity of an empty courtyard to practice their halberd forms. "You meet the conditions for use and just will it, yeah? It does seem to skip both incantations, rituals and the like as advertised."

"You forget that those conditions also include the strictures of her nation, such that she can't use the normal Formalcraft designs, or runes. What she's making looks like an inscribed magic circle, but it is of her design. And the symbols are a form of their ancient script, for example."

Rin, who hadn't actually seen Caster's room recently, didn't see why one form of a magecraft was fine versus the other, and said so. Illya simply nodded. "I suspect it's actually the prohibitions _as she understands them_ because there's no other referant for those. Thus an _external_ magecraft is prohibited, but she can, and is, basically writing her own system into existence. Reverse-engineering, if you will."

"That won't be very strong though," Rin mused.

"Probably. Well, if a lot of people sign up to it, as it were, it would strengthen naturally. However..." Illya turned to Kuro, changing her pitch for emphasis. "It might be that this makes up the new Emiya magecraft, since Shirou didn't inherit Father's."

"They were both alive in my world, and I don't think he gained any magecraft then. Besides, isn't Sakura the one who is actually able to use it?"

"She's a Matou. The World seems to like its magi family line consistency. Her family's ability to bind even Servants doesn't mean the magecraft is now part of theirs."

"But if anything, the system should just be the Sasaku magecraft," Rin pointed out. "Granted, that's really awkward since she's a Servant."

Illya agreed easily with that. "No, you're exactly right, which is why it is oddly convenient that there's a family without control of its own Magic Crest now."

Rin tapped a finger on the wooden floorboards. "But there's no way you could convince the World that the originator, Sasaku, counts as being in the family. You can't fabricate paperwork for the World."

"Ah, but that's just the thing." Caster's third Master dropped a bombshell. "When I made a contract with her, her True Name was revealed to me as Emiya Sasaku."

"That's not possible," Kuro muttered. "You can't simply change records in the Thro-" She stopped short. "Quite a few of us don't have records in the Throne."

"Can you get to your, speculative, point?" Frowning, Rin voiced her growing frustration at the homunculus' oblique approach. Possibly because she realized that Illya had been hoping for some of the Founding Familes' insight into the Grail System, which she didn't have. Or Illya herself either, apparently.

"Look at it this way; Gilgamesh had some basis to 'taunt' Father by suggesting he join the Counter Force. And Kuro seems to innately know that Shirou can also join it, which in both cases means becoming a Servant at the least. Caster is already a Servant. Assuming she indeed doesn't have records in the Throne, were were they before she was summoned?"

"You mean the Grail System? Wait, Mama? But she, er, hasn't been around for a decade here?"

"So the Einzbern also thought. But while you and I are descended from her, she and most others like her are descended from Justeaze, who is the System." Illya warmed to the topic at hand, possibly the real issue on her mind throughout. "Actually, meeting you strongly suggests besides becoming a Heroic Spirit in the Throne and then being summoned as a Servant, it might be possible to cheat in reverse; becoming a Servant and then maybe getting added to the Throne. In fact, your own use of another Heroic Spirit's power would point to the possibilities if Shirou were to gain the magecraft of a Caster Servant. He also gained Command Seals before doing magecraft somehow. Though perhaps Avalon counted enough."

"That seems like quite the cheat," Rin said. "For example, Kojirou's technique is so godly it stands in for a standard Noble Phantasm. But it isn't necessarily impossible for a human to gain it, which he at least claims to have done."

" **If** you could pull it off, that wouldn't be the worst investment of one standard human lifetime," Kuro grinned. "It would have been easier to use Ruby earlier on and become a Magical Girl-class Servant."

"But you're an Archer."

"If you had Ruby and learned enough from Saber, who knows, you might become a Saber yourself. I know you wanted one really badly after all. I wonder if there's a branch were you summoned a Saber Tohsaka for this war."

Illya shook her head at that last comment. "The World dislikes duplicates."

Kuro waved a hand between the two of them, taking care to keep a bit of distance, though. "Considering our situation, Rin and a Ruby-Kojirou taught magical swordswoman Rin would probably be allowed."

"Maybe separately, but I think it would be disastrous if we did something like form a contract," Illya allowed.

"Given my luck in this war, I'd end up being summoned by Caster and have to take orders from her."

"Hmm? She's never actually given Saber an order though? Shirou might, but very rarely if so."

After a moment, Kuro nodded in agreement with Illya's assessment of the situation. "He's maybe the only one who doesn't have to have a reason to fight. Protesting her own weakness is at least a part of making him uninterested in battling her, I'd wager."

"He'd wipe the floor with her," Rin stated simply.

"Certainly. If anything, that makes it more surprising that she never tried to find a way to change that calculation. While we still had our Command Spells, I'm sure she was lying about them not working on him?"

"I would have assumed their contract was just weak. Or perhaps given how she got out of hers, she figured it wasn't worth the risk."

That jogged Rin's memory. "That might be it. If the Spells worked, he'd have to backstab her at some point before she could use one to, uh, suicide him." A couple moments of awkward silence followed.

"I'm starting to think that Caster is a, what do they call it, power-bottom?" Kuro paused as the other two stared at her. "It's Grail information, ok? Not like I was reading stuff I shouldn't have been."

"You shouldn't have added that second part," Illya pointed out, when it was clear that Rin wasn't going to.

* * *

 **(Abbi von Einzbern)**

"Are you kidding me," Caster was muttering to the small video-player on the table behind her as she worked on her magic circle. "If one side has already built a whole civilization in O'Neill cylinders and your last-resort weapons can't reach them, how does them escalating to a one-sided strategic curb-stomp lead to 'destroying everything'? Protagonist logic, I tell ya- Unless the World doesn't see them as human and prunes the branch. But that seems unlikely, since the moral is that they **are** human..."

"Er, sorry to interrupt," Abbi began, holding up the item she had been tasked to deliver. "You wanted these as soon as we found them." The requested item was a rather oblong stone, about two feet tall and six inches in diameter.

The Servant looked up. "Perfect. That's-" she looked over at the already-shaped ones sitting near the door. "-the third of the large ones. One more to go." The rock floated out of the homunculus' hands over to its requester, who sized it up approvingly. "Thank you."

Before making her way out, she had one question of her own. "You don't seem to use gems like Tohsaka or precious metals like Einzbern, why do ordinary rocks work for this?"

"Hoh. That's because the ritual only requires the right number of rocks."

"I've never heard of a ritual that used four large rocks and eight small ones..."

"Then it clearly isn't copied, now is it?" Smiling, Caster took out a small mallet and what looked like a small green-bladed knife and began shaping the rock.

* * *

l

* * *

 **Notes:**

It's ironic that while she had a darker shadow dream, no one was (particularly) harmed in this case, compared to...

Fate Grand Order has quite a lot of interesting Pseudo-Servants, depending on how you view the concept. Always take it with a pinch of salt, of course, but I found it hilarious that the wiki lists Shiki (both ones you can get) as possessing "Herself" as a Pseudo. Kuro (or Prisma Illya) aren't Pseudos though.

"Strategic" could be "as opposed to tactical", "grand strategy implications" or "civilization-ending in scope"


	66. Brewing Storm

**Brewing Storm**

* * *

 **(Morning)**

 **(Abbi von Einzbern)**

"Alright." Caster stood up, being careful not to disturb the newly-inscribed section on her growing magic circle. Taking a stance, she held out her hands. "Try pushing me now."

The homunculus approached and, grasping her hands, pushed as hard as she could. However, just like with her previous attempt, the Servant didn't move at all. Though that didn't mean much by itself.

Sasaku nodded briefly, marking and end to the experiment. "That was at least measurable compared to with Rider. Without a specific Skill, this is infeasibly inefficient absent a better scale factor on Realm strength."

"It'll be fine," Rider said soothingly as the three of them exited the room. She had, understandably enough, high initial hopes, though her likely disappointment at the conclusion of Caster's tests didn't show. "We can hold our own well enough. Don't you think we've done well enough together so far?"

"Not saying we lack in other uses for the energy," the other Servant agreed. "Simply feels like a bad sign."

"You're just being paranoid," Illya jumped in to the conversation after noticing her Servant was outside of her room. "Try to relax a bit before the fight begins, or you'll tire out even before Kuro shoots the opening arrow."

The morning news was reporting on an approaching stormfront that had the local authorities looking at their disaster shelter preparations. Illya took the opportunity to switch topic. "Hmm. The timing of this seems beyond convenient, isn't it?"

Abbi glanced at the crawler text on the screen. "Expected landfall around the afternoon?"

"Ruler probably picked her timing to correspond with that." Sasaku shrugged. "At least, that's more likely than her being able to whip up something like it given the Grail System seems to be running out its magical energy supply. I'm going to make some sort of treat, since I guess lunch has already been planned for by Abbi's colleagues. Any requests?"

"Butter cake," Medusa immediately replied.

"That's not too complicated, let's raid Shirou's pantry and see what's in stock."

* * *

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* * *

 **(Illya)**

Caster made a fairly large cake, but had to leave it undecorated due to lacking what she wanted to use for frosting. After lunch, those who wanted some cut slices with no further ceremony since, in the first place, it wasn't made for any particular occasion. Illya had a few things in mind, and found a chance to pull Sasaku away for a bit. "It feels rather anti-climatic, thinking that we're really close to the largest battle in a Grail War ever. Eight Servants in one place? Emiya was right that his house might easily not be here, this time tomorrow."

"War's are like that though," Sasaku frowned. "Though of course while the Grail War system -seems- like a battle royale setup, there are still group-oriented skills like (Tactics), (Charisma) or the like."

Illya nodded as they sat down on the edge of the courtyard to watch the wind throw leaves around. "It's easy to see how things could have turned out even worse from the last War, if not for Lancer's (Journey of Flowers)."

"The scaling on (Realm Creation) is just terrible though, it would need to be supported by, hmm... a town-sized population for general use. At least I can do quite a lot to inanimate things; this house can stand up to a lot more than a hurricane. Though that might be simply due to (Item Reinforcement)" Caster looked up into a light gray sky, as branches blew overhead.

"That second sounds worse than the standard (Item Construction), though I don't know how to make the obvious comparison with (Territory Creation)." Illya lowered her voice, though everyone else was sensibly inside, rather than eating their cake out in the elements. Though conveniently enough, any gusts that did approach the pair simply decided to thoughtfully circle around them. "I was wondering what exactly Gilgamesh wanted from you. He liked to mess around with Artoria, but he annoyed Kotomine by going out to sky on you."

"Not like he'd be detected, with that concealment Noble Phantasm of his. Though he also did just walk up to us once." Sasaku let the first question hang for a moment. "Like me, he wants to use the potential scaling of (Realm Creation) to allow, how did he put it, 'separation'."

"That sounds like what Father's predecessor did," Illya frowned. "Create an enclosed bubble that separates in some way from standard reality. But a Reality Marble would be even more powerful and it's a fairly common development among Dead Apostles."

"True, but they're hard to deal with, I imagine. The Realm is much more flexible, and more importantly, building his Security Organization in it would actually strengthen both."

"Something of the necessarily size would exceed the Grail system though," her Master muttered. "Not that I'm doubting the possibility, since a homunculus was capable of that. But it seems like he's demanding a lot of you."

"Heh." Sasaku chuckled. "The catch is that I don't, properly speaking, have control. Before we met, he was probably trying to find out how the skill functioned with his own analysis Noble Phantasm. Like you'd expect, the higher you scale the Realm, the stronger the restrictions become, like a sort of conceptual gravity well. For example, people entering the Organization might strengthen the Realm, but if for some reason they started worshiping me, I'd take a power hit, not get stronger like most gods of this World, or most thaumaturgies."

"By the way, I looked it up and the Chaldeans were a people who seem to exist much later than the city of Uruk ruled by Gilgamesh. Do you know what's up with that?"

"His Uruk seems to have suffered some sort of crippling catastrophe. Gilgamesh wasn't clear on what since that occurred after events not part of his personal history. Remember, he has the (Gate of Babylon) and that civilization is even later still. But what he suggested to your father's Servant is likely; build his own country in the separated Realm."

"Why though? And why there?"

Caster smiled slightly. "Wherever he happens to go outside the Throne, he's still in a single branch, under the principle of the World. The threat they spotted to Human History suggests it is possible to escape from this. Unlike them, he wants to build... because he can? Because he considers himself to be the greatest ruler ever? For the fun of it?"

Illya casually brushed some crumbs off her skirt onto the ground. "Do you still think you can use the Servant summoning system to grant immortality?"

"Given how Kuro aka _you-from-another-branch_ , as well as whoever the human was who is our current Saber, both managed it, its demonstrably possible. Actually controlling it usefully... just on the summoning side to start, there's some odd inherent randomness. Like how does Avalon give you the Princess Knight, or the skin of a snake he never met summon a young Gilgamesh?"

"Catalysts just aren't very reliable. Well Lu Bu's halberd did summon him, but then again getting his horse Red Hare, or his strategist who made it, Chen Gong, would be possible. However neither of them should qualify as berserkers."

Sasaku frowned, uncomfortable after having realized the intent behind the question. "Unfortunately, though the World seems to allow both you and Kuro to exist, provided you don't get too close, I suspect it might not be happy with another Servant version of you. Though it depends. Kuro was summoned after me, so perhaps branches exist with another Archer being summoned, I set up such a system, and Servant-you is later summoned. But..."

"Not this one, right? I doubt you'd be able to figure it out in two years time anyway. Kuro managed it by becoming a magical girl, so I guess that means I lost out on my best chance long ago." Neither of them wanted to add that in the event of Kuro's return to the Throne... _well enough of such dark thoughts._

* * *

l

* * *

 **(Shirou)**

What was that line Kuro used? "Trace on."

It was hard to say if his magical circuits had activated or not, partially because he had gotten used to Avalon's rather low-level draw after all this time. Similarly, Caster and now Saber were both fairly stable in terms of baseline demand, with the former being careful to buffer on her end to handle her rather erratic use. On the other hand, there seemed to be hardly any complication when he had to 'energy transfer' to Sakura, which was supposed to be complicated, or at least dangerous. _Which it was, come to think of it._

The girl sitting on the other end of the bed facing him waited for a while before suggesting, "Maybe putting off today's practice would be a good idea?"

"Yeah, I know," Shirou muttered, wondering if perhaps the on-off or control knob, so to speak, was simply controlled by act of will. His eyes refocused on Sakura as something flicked her hair ribbon to the side. Blinking as she noticed it, Sakura coughed into her hand in a vain attempt to hide a sudden blush. The two were silent for a while.

"That was just a slip of the mind," he said at last, only causing her color to deepen slightly. "Guess I'm not very good at control yet."

Sakura glanced downward at Shirou's arms, which had no visible marks from the events of the last evening in evidence. "That makes two of us..." She trailed off as he, moving forward, embraced her without hesitation.

"You know that's not what I meant." Though Sakura nodded readily enough, he could tell that wasn't everything.

"A slip's a slip, but I worry that, perhaps, there is a me who is darker and hungrier, and that wouldn't be just an accident."

"Enough of that." Shirou pressed a finger to her lips for emphasis. "All the more reason to not become her. In a way, if you _stop_ worrying about that, then I will worry."

She simply smiled softly as they looked at one another.

* * *

l

* * *

 **(Kuro)**

As evening approached, so did heavy winds, bringing a substantial amount of rain with them. Well-warned, the townspeople remained in the safety of their homes, leaving the roads empty. Landfall was a bit later than the meteorologists had expected, but for everyone present, exactly on time.

"Still up to making that shot from here?" Rin asked, as the two of them watched the tree in the estate's courtyard bend, creaking in protest against the invisible air pushing on it.

Kuro made a show of stretching before taking out her bow. "It's a whole building." With a quick jump, she made her way onto the roof.

 _Hmm.._. Pulling out a single black arrow, she collected her thoughts while focusing on the direction and location of Fuyuki's church. Using (Mind's Eye) for ranged work still felt rather counter-intuitive, though _as long as it works, it works_. Keeping her target in mind, Kuro nocked, drew, and aimed in a direction that 'felt' about right, before loosing her arrow into the dark night. Even without being able to track the missile, she knew it would reach in due time, winds or not.

Taking out another arrow more from habit than immediate need, she put it to string, and waited. The usual evening ambiance of the surrounding residential area were muted by that of the storm. Also because everyone would be staying indoors, away from windows. _A perfect cover for a battle between Servants._

" _A complication,_ " Rin sent over their link abruptly. " _They're coming, but more than four Servants left the church._ "

" _Got a number?_ "

There was a brief pause, likely as the question was relayed to Caster. " _Twelve, though she says only two of them seem to be 'proper' Servant strength._ "

 _That doesn't quite add up._ She thought about several possibilities. " _Two, a third with (Presence Concealment) and the fourth split themselves ten ways?_ "

" _Possible. The two strong ones seem to be headed most directly towards us though. The rest are fanning out._ "

Nodding to herself, the Archer continued waiting until she 'felt' someone moving in the distance. She grinned to herself, raising her bow. Rather lazily for attackers, or at least carelessly, they were taking a now empty road which, while while it did not reach to the doorstep of the Emiya estate, made for an easy slightly arced shot. _Well, they chose to leave themselves open._ Kuro disposed of her arrow, deciding to switch to a Caladbolg.

" _I see the two you mentioned,_ " she informed Rin while preparing the sword for were coming in fast and she could make out some details. " _One swordwoman in pink, another much taller with a crazy hat and cape. I'm taking a shot._ "

Go, **Caladbolg**!

The modified sword shot out towards the approaching duo, twinkling like a star in the night from the relatively small amount of explosive, er magical energy in its tip. No need to risk bystanders with an overkill shot.


End file.
